


Of PenPals and Cows

by farawaydaes



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Light Angst, M/M, Pen Pals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2018-11-14 05:55:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 28,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11201829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farawaydaes/pseuds/farawaydaes
Summary: Jongdae has always been a city boy. London is his one and only home. He has spent his entire life here, there is no way he is about to move to the middle of freaking nowhere! So when Jongdae has to move to East Yorkshire and start a new school, and pisses the head prefect off on the first day, he swears he could just fall into a hole and stay there for the rest of his life..."Jongdae slowly slid out of his seat and got out of the car, *splat* he looked down and saw his left leg covered in what looked like mud, he groaned and shook some of the mud off.'I fucking hate this' he thought."





	1. In the middle of nowhere!

\-----------------------------------

 **To:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk** **  
From:** **chen21@exo.co.uk**

**Subject: RE: Why is this happening to me??**

Hey Min!

Guess what? I'm moving :( my mum just told us we're moving to the countryside, can you believe that!?? I don't think I'll be able to survive the countryside! T__T We're moving somewhere up Yorkshire idk I just remember a shit ton of fields! Say, where did you say you lived again? Maybe you can come and finally visit haha. I'm being transferred to a new school too, not looking forward to that at all, I won't know anyone!! T__T 

Anyways that's all I wanted to let you know for now cause I might be gone a few days, the internet is terrible at the minute (I'm typing this in the car right now!) and we haven't fixed it at the new house yet, also stupid Jongdeok keeps trying to look at this

How is your day going? Hopefully better than mine!

Write back soon!    

Chen! 

\-----------------------------------

Jongdae sighed. He didn't want to start a new school now. A new school meant making new friends and new teachers and new routines. So when his parents announced, quite happily, they were moving to the countryside, he just sighed. He adjusted his ear phones and tried to block out his mum yelling, his dad yelling back just as loud, and his stupid brother constantly trying to get his attention so he could spout random pieces of unnecessary trivia. He already missed London, he was used to the heavy traffic and the yelling of angry commuters and the stuffy buses. He looked out the window and all he saw were fields. Field after field, it was getting really repetitive and it was lulling him to sleep as they drove past. He closed his eyes and soon fell asleep.

"Dae honey, we're here! Wake up!" his mother shook him awake. He groggily opened his eyes and looked out. It was dark but sure enough he could see the faint outline of a small homely cottage. Lights inside the cottage came on and the front porch light illuminated the area. He could see that there were at least 7 other cottages in the area too. His father came out of the house and walked up to the car. 

"Come on Dae, you have to help us move some of the things in the car inside" he turned to Jongdae's mother, "the moving people just called, they said they'd be here early morning." Jongdae slowly slid out of his seat and got out of the car, *splat* he looked down and saw his left leg covered in what looked like mud, he groaned and shook some of the mud off. 

'I fucking hate this' he thought as he took the boxes of clothes out of the boot. Holding the box with 'Jongdae!!!' conveniently scrawled over one side, he made his way up the stairs to what would be his new room for the rest of his life. Well, just as soon as he completed the rest of the 3 years he had left of school. Upstairs had two rooms and a small toilet. His mum told him, when they bought the cottage, that he'd have to share with his bratty little brother. He didn't want to do that, but arguing wouldn't have solved anything. 

He walked in to his new room and set down the box. The room was the largest and bare except for where the mattresses lay- their beds would arrive tomorrow morning but his father had already transferred the mattresses over last week. The white walls were definitely not inviting at all. He exited the room and went to peek into the other rooms on the top floor. His parents room was smaller, and a small toilet room- the large bathroom was downstairs. He noticed a small door and opened it. 

Leading up, was a steep staircase. He found a light switch and turned it on as he made his way up. At the top was another door which he opened to reveal the rooftop. He didn't think his parents even knew of this place. Making his way closer to the middle of the roof top, he sat down and looked up. He saw stars he never even thought he’d ever see (the pollution in London meant that it was rare to even be able to see a single star). 'Maybe the countryside isn't that bad I guess' he thought as a wave of calmness overcame him. He could feel the cool breeze as he sat, and heard the nightlife come alive. 

"Jongdae? Where are you? Come down please!" he could hear his mother call. He quickly got up and dusted himself down and ran down the stairs. 'I'll keep this to myself for a while' he thought as he made his way down to see what his mum wanted.

"Before you go to bed, I just wanted to let you know that the movers would be here at 8am and I want you to help your father with the furniture, is that ok?" she asked.

"I guess so. It's not like I have anything else to do" he replied. 

They had a quick dinner- what ever his mum could make with the lack of pots and pans and food. As he made his way back up to his makeshift bed, his phone beeped. He checked his phone and saw he had a text message. 'That’s funny I didn't think the bloody countryside would even have service' he opened it.

**From: Xiumin!  23:45 6/9/14**

_Hey, just got your email! I hope its okay to text seeing as your internet’s down for a while! My day was good! I ended up playing football all day heh >_< Don't worry man, you'll get used to the country!!_

He smiled and went to type his reply

**To: Xiumin! 23:47 6/9/14**

_Urggggh I got out of the car and the first that happened was a giant pile of mud. I freaking stepped in it!! T__T Are you going to finally join the football team then? I think you should! Anyways I should getting to bed now, the movers will be here at 8am. Goodnight!_

He locked his phone and and set it aside, climbed into bed and waited for Xiumin's reply. He could hear Jongdeok already snoring away. He waited for 5 minutes but ended up sleeping, dreaming of nothing for the rest of the night. 

**From: Xiumin! 23:54 6/9/14**

_Goodnight!! ^_^_

\-----------------------------------


	2. The new boys

\-----------------------------------

 **To:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk** **  
From:** **chen21@exo.co.uk**

**Subject: RE: HECK YEA Internet’s back!!**

Hey!! My internets back!! *happy dances* Dad set up the WiFi after lunch, looks like he couldn't survive without internet too! The movers came today and dropped off all our furniture. The idiots almost broke mum's precious lamp in the morning, you should've seen her face! But at least I have a proper bed now! I found a really cool place in our house- the rooftop. There's this staircase going up to it and like it was amazing!! You could see a lot from up there! The stars are pretty cool too; I couldn't see many stars in London. How's your day going? :)

Chen!

\-----------------------------------

The movers came at 8am on the dot. Jongdae somehow managed to pull himself up out of the hard, cold bed and trudged towards the bathroom to wash up. He looked at himself at the tiny mirror on the wall. His eyes were pinkish and his soft, brown hair was messy and stuck up in odd places. He tried to tame his hair as much as possible before giving up and brushing his teeth. His hair was always a terror to style; it was thick and always messy. He was too tired for a shower now and walked back to his room to retrieve his phone and glasses. He heard the doorbell and made his way down to help his father bring in the furniture. 

“Hey Dae, can you grab that chair quickly, take it to the kitchen and come back for the rest?”

“Sure” he picked up the chair and set it down in the large kitchen. His mother already had the box containing the kitchenware out on the counter top. 

“Oh good you’re up, breakfast should be ready in about an hour okay, go wake your brother up once you finish with your dad.”

An hour passed and he had bought in all the kitchen furniture and starting to bring in the living room furniture. He made his way upstairs when he got a message on his phone

**From: Xiumin!  09:12 7/9/14**

_Hey wish me luck; I’m trying out for the football team today!! (Can you believe try-outs are on Sunday?? -___-)_

**To: Xiumin! 09:14 7/9/14**

_Good Luck!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧_

He locked his phone and proceeded to wake his brother. Jongdeok was always a heavy sleeper, he’d sleep through anything- even if there was an apocalypse happening, he’d still sleep through it. He pulled the covers off him and yelled for him to get up. “What the fuck man I was sleeping!” Jongdeok whined. 

“Mum said you have to get up now, breakfast is in 5 minutes, you have to help us bring in the rest of the stuff and watch your mouth will you?” Jongdae retorted back. 

Sticking his tongue out whilst his brother's back was turned, Jongdeok made his way to wash up. Jondgae walked back downstairs and entered the kitchen to see him mother already laying out breakfast. His mother's cooking always made him feel better and right now he could use some comfort. He couldn't get much sleep as he had hoped because a few crickets decided it'd be fun to make noise all night. "Mum why did we have to move here, why? What possessed you guys?" he groaned as he sat down at the table, with a plate full of pancakes. “Seriously mum, why? I couldn’t sleep the entire night, the crickets wouldn’t stop that horrid noise and I swear I heard a cow join in” he said, stuffing his mouth. 

“We moved because your father found a better job here, and don’t talk with your mouth full!” his mother said, as she tried to wipe his mouth with a napkin. Jongdae tried to squirm away but proved to be a useless attempt as his mother continued her attack. He didn’t notice Jongdeok coming down the stairs and witnessing the entire scene before joining in. He could never resist helping his mum attack Jongdae. 

“The furniture is basically nearly all set, why don’t you two take a walk around the area? You know; get used to it before you start school tomorrow?” his father suggested as he walked in to the kitchen, wiping his hands. 

“That sounds like a splendid idea boys, why don’t you do that?” their mother asked.

“Mum you just want us out of the house, you could’ve just said you know,” said Jongdae as he got up to place his dishes in the sink. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to explore the area though but I’m going alone.”

He made his way back to his room to get appropriately dressed. As much as he loved lounging around in his pyjamas, he couldn’t exactly explore what he liked to call, ‘Cow Land’ in them. Dressing in a simple t shirt and a clean pair of jeans, slipping on his shoes, he grabbed his phone, yelled a quick ‘I’ll see you later mum, I’m exploring!’ and exited the house.

Being in daylight now, it meant he could clearly see his surroundings and what he’d have to call home from now on. He turned to take a look at the cottage, this was the first time he’d actually seen the house (it was too dark to make out any features last night). The white paint was slightly peeling and the roof looked like it could do with a quick fix. There were climbing plants growing all over one side of the house and the wall behind looking like it could collapse any minute. ‘No wonder dad got it cheap, this place is falling apart.’ He thought to himself as he walked down the path leading to a main road. He strolled down the path, often stopping to take pictures. ‘Since Xiumin is a country boy, I’m sure he’ll love these pictures’ he muttered to himself, flicking through the photos he took, not noticing he was about to collide into someone. 

“Woah there dude, you almost ran me over!” the boy laughed. Jongdae looked up and apologised, trying to stop himself from turning red. His first day here and he’s already done something stupid! 

“It’s okay man, just look where you’re going next time, the road here can get pretty congested!” 

Jongdae looked around, the place was virtually empty. He raised his eyebrow and looked at the purple headed boy as if to ask ‘Seriously? That was the lamest joke ever.’ 

“Ok, yeah that was a bit lame I agree. I’m Baekhyun! I live just down the road over there,” He pointed to some vague area but all Jongdae could see was a field. “Are you new here, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around?”

“I’m Jongdae,” he held his hand out to shake the other boy’s hand. “Yeah I just moved here last night, took ages to get here,” 

“City boy then?”

“Yeah, London, this is my first time in the country and I’m not sure I like it yet,”

“Don’t worry man, you’ll get used to it, hey how old are you?”

“16” Jongdae was more a man of actions than words.

“Oh, I’m 16 too! Are you enrolling at East York High?”

“Yep, do you go there?”

“Yes! Oh how about I introduce you to a few people? I have a feeling you’re going to be in our class!”

“Sure I guess, I don’t have anything else to do,” 

Jongdae followed the strangely hyper boy to a small café just off the main road. He didn’t have many friends to begin with, his longest friendship lasted 3 years and he wasn’t even sure the other considered him as a friend. He was…happy, on his own most of the time. He was shy meeting new people, but for some reason he could talk to Baekhyun easily. He smiled thinking he could finally make a proper friend in ‘Cow Land’. On their way to the café, they walked past a small field where a bunch of boys were playing football. 

“Football practice. I don’t know why they make them practice on a Sunday, it’s mental.” Bakehyun explained as Jongdae watched the boys play. “That’s Minseok over there,” He pointed to a small, slightly chubby boy expertly dribbling the ball. “That’s East York’s star player but he’s never actually joined the team before. And over there,” He pointed to a slightly taller, pink haired boy. "is Luhan, he's also a star player but he's been on the team since ages. They're in the year above us but they're a bunch of mean gits if I say so myself." Baekhyun and Jongdae walked on, leaving the football team to get on with practice. 

"Here we are!" Baekhyun exclaimed whilst gesturing wildly at a small, run down café. "This is were the rest of us hang out all the time, cause Chanyeol's mum owns the place." Jongdae looked around the small place, still following the other boy and wondering who the heck Chanyeol even was.

"HEY BAEK! AND DUDE I DON'T KNOW! WELCOME TO THE CAFÉ! I'M CHANYEOL!" came a tall, elf like boy, grinning like the Cheshire cat, from the back of the front counter and thrusted his hand out to Jongdae. 

Oh. Looks like he knows who Chanyeol is now.   

He took the offered hand and shook. "Hello I'm Jongdae. I just moved here." he said quietly. He was used to being quiet around people, not often knowing how to form the right words to say to people. He was pushed along the café by Baekhyun, followed by Chanyeol who was still talking about god knows what to him- he tuned out a little while ago but Chanyeol didn't need to know that. 

"Oh my god Chanyeol, shut up! You're scaring the new boy, he looks terrified!" came a new voice from the back of the café, watching the three boys getting closer. "Hey, I'm Kyungsoo, I'm sorry you had to meet these idiots first." 

"Jongdae" came his reply. 

He ended up talking to the three new boys for hours (they never shut up once and were really wearing Jongdae down, in the good way of course) until his mum called for him to go back home. 

"Well, it was nice to meet you guys, I hope we can be friends in the future," he started before he was cut off

"DUDE of course!" said Chanyeol a little too loud. "you're awesome and we're pretty sure you'll be the perfect addition to our group!" 

"Yeah we agree with Chanyeol, which is really saying something" agreed Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing sweetie, nothing..."

He watched the boys bicker before he bid his goodbyes, promising he'll see them tomorrow at school and left the café. He did get lost, like once- okay maybe three times- before reaching his house. He entered and slipped off his shoes before making his way into the living room where his family were sitting watching the telly. 

"Hey Dae, did you have fun?" his mother asked. 

"Yeah I guess so" he smiled as he remembered everything he did today. "I'm gonna go to bed now, I'm beat." he excused himself and went upstairs to get ready for bed. As he dressed into his grey sweatpants and his loose t-shirt, and brushed his teeth, he remembered the football practice he'd come across earlier. He remembered the two boys playing, looking elegant as they raced after the ball in ways only an athlete could. Maybe he could join a sports team at his new school, he never had the chance in London. Oh who was he kidding, his hand eye coordination was the worst, it was why he was always picked last to be in teams in PE class. He rinsed his toothbrush off and climbed in to bed, dreaming of only the two boys practising.

**From: Xiumin 22:56 7/9/14**

_I got in! Guess who's the new captain of the football team??!!! :D_

\-----------------------------------


	3. The first day

\-----------------------------------

**To: chen21@exo.co.uk** **  
From:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk**

**Subject: RE: With great power, comes great responsibility!!**  

 

Hey Hey ChenChen!  

 

I’m sorry I took a while to reply but I’m home now and I’m exhausted. Football practice was harder than I imagined and Coach was brutal- I think he’s on crack or something, there is no way a man his age would have so much energy -_- 

He made me the Captain tho which is AWESOME! It was mostly thanks to you, I even considered joining the team this year! One of my close friends’ been on the team since Year 7 and I swear I have no idea how he deals with Coach’s shit! Funny story about him actually, he dyed his hair such a ridiculous colour to impress someone, I am done with that boy, he’s such an idiot! But hey, love makes you do ridiculous things right? School’s starting again for the new year tomorrow, so not looking forward to that, having to wake up early every morning *shudders* How about you? You enrolled to a new school yet? You moved to the countryside and you haven’t even told me whereabouts Yorkshire! T__T ChenChen, how could you? Don’t you love me anymore? ;) 

 

Haha ok I have to go now, mum’s getting on my case to get off the laptop and go babysit my sister. She’s going out with yet ANOTHER guy today, it’s been what? The 9th guy this month now. It's bloody ridiculous now!  

 

Have a great day!  

 

TTYL 

 

Xiumin 

\-------------------------- 

 

Jongdae’s alarm went off at exactly 6:30 which made the boy groan in frustration. He hated early mornings and he hated school. He rolled over and turned the annoying alarm and rubbed his sleepy eyes. Today was the first day of his new school. Somehow, he managed to take a quick shower, enjoying the warm water cascade down his back, and brushed his teeth, and remembering to put his glasses on. In London, he was never made to wear a school uniform- that was only thing he liked about the school. He looked at the uniform he had to wear now with disdain. ‘Who the heck even wears a freaking suit to school?’ he thought as he started to dress. Slipping on his plain, dark grey slacks and white shirt, he turned to retrieve his tie off the bed. He didn’t even know how to tie a tie! Watching those tutorials online certainly did not help one bit, his attempts always came out messy and un-tie like.

 

Attempting to tie his purple and grey striped tie for the 17th time since, he managed to get a decent looking knot. ‘Ah fuck it, mum will probably fix it for me later’ as he slipped on his grey blazer. He looked at himself in the mirror and actually thought he looked good for once in his life. The uniform fit well and suited his messy hair and glasses. ‘I’ll get all the ladies like this now’ he chucked to himself. He was the only one who had to start school today, Jongdeok started the week after which Jongdae got really jealous over. Sighing, he made his way downstairs for breakfast.  

 

“Jongdae, all those tutorials and you still didn’t manage to tie it properly! Come here!” said his mother as soon as she saw him. He was way too tired to deal with his mum's nattering this early in the morning and just let her fuss over him.

 

"Honestly Dae, you're 16, you should take a little more care of yourself." she said fixing his tie and trying to brush his unruly hair. "I think it's time for a hair cut soon,"  

 

"Mum will you stop that now please." he said trying to get away from his mother's steely grip on his hair. "My hair is fine now will you let me eat breakfast, I already have to deal with going to a new school, I don’t want to deal with whatever problems you have of me right now." 

 

Jongdae definitely was not a morning person at all. If you feared for your safety, it was a good idea never to get on Jongdae's bad side in the morning, he couldn't help but snap at people when he was barely coherent with his own thoughts. Breakfast was a silent ordeal due to his outburst, causing him to chew his toast silently and his parents to sit there prodding at their meals, avoiding looking at Jongdae. This wasn't the first time this has happened and certainly not the last, you’d think his parents would understand by now. 

  

Finishing breakfast as fast as he could, he ran back up, retrieved his backpack, ran back down and out the front door with a "I'm leaving, see you guys later!" to catch the school bus. A large bus soon arrived at the bus stop and Jongdae boarded it as quick as he could, flashing his bus pass at the driver. He looked around for an empty seat and saw Chanyeol waving at him furiously, pointing at an empty seat next to Kyungsoo. He gladly took the offer; he couldn’t stand the looks the other students were giving him as he walked down the bus to the back where the empty seat was. He plopped down and greeted the boys who were looking at him with huge smiles on their faces.  

 

"Good to see you again man, wassup?" Chanyeol asked as he slung his arm over Jongdae.  

 

"Trying not to fling myself of this bus right now to be honest." he sighed, "it's actually hell having to wake up this early, I miss the holidays." 

 

"No kidding, I wish I could go back to bed right now." groaned Bakehyun as he tried to keep his eyes open.

  

"Jongdae, are you ready to start a new school?" asked Kyungsoo. 

 

"Hell no, I dislike everything about school, and I hate this uniform, who's bright idea was it to make everyone wear uniforms anyways?" whined Jongdae. 

 

The boys continued to share their dislike for school as the bus slowed down and stopped near the school. "The bus can't reach the school because of the small road, we have to walk from here," Baekhyun explained to Jongdae as they walked down the narrow path, with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo bickering about nothing behind them. 

 

"Oh you see those students over there?" he pointed to a small group of students who wore a yellow striped tie, and then turned to point to another small group of students wearing a green striped tie. 

 

 "You see how they have a different tie to us?" Jongdae looked at his own purple tie. "The school is actually shared by three towns here," the boy said stopping to whack Chanyeol on the head with his hand for the dumb comment that just came out of his mouth.  

 

"The purple is for us lovely Beverley students, the green is for the Leconfielders and yellow is the Walkington lot." he carried on. "Apparently it was a waste of money to have three separate schools so they merged the three into one huge one and well here we are!" he did the silly wild gesturing action that reminded Jongdae of when he has dragged to the little café.  

 

The school in itself looked as if it was out of a futuristic world. Compared to the worn down, rustic look of the buildings in the area, the school practically shone in it's modern-ness and size. The school was separated into 3 different campuses, the Lower, Middle and Upper. The younger years were mainly situated in the Lower campus whilst the older years, in the Upper. Baekhyun showed Jongdae the way to the reception of the Upper campus to sign in and find out his tutor group. Walking into the reception, he thought it looked more like a hospital than a school, with it's squeaky white floors and the distinct smell of disinfectant. Baekhyun had left him to talk to the old lady at the desk, muttering something about trying to finally get his rightful seat next to Chanyeol. The lady looked at him and asked for his name.  

 

"Hello my name is Jongdae Kim. I transferred over from London?"  

 

"Ok hold on a second dear, I'll just get your details and then get you settled into your new classes." the lady beamed at him as she continued to clack away at her keyboard. "Ok, your class is on the 2nd floor, and your teacher is Mr Sheppard, pop by the Head of Year's office first, that will be the first door on your right when you get up there." 

 

Jongdae nodded and thanked her before setting off to find his class. He noticed a large notice board near the staircase and stopped to take a look. The notice board contained many different leaflets and newletters and pictures but one particular image caught his eye. It was the football team, more specifically the football team he watched practice with Baekhyun, recognising the short chubby boy and the pink haired boy he had pointed out.  

 

Suddenly, he heard a loud shrill noise and looked at his watch. It was 9am and classes were about to start soon so he quickly climbed the stairs to his new tutor class. After dropping by the Head of Year's office to pick up a few things he'd need (a small map of the school, rules he had to abide by and his timetable), he stood in front of his class. Feeling nervous, to the point where the butterflies felt like they were stabbing him, he raised one fist and knocked on the door. The door swung open to a very happy looking teacher and about 25 staring students. Recognising only Kyungsoo, he offered a small smile at the class and introduced himself as he was let in. 

 

Kyungsoo offered him the empty seat beside him, which he took gratefully. The boy explained to him how the school system worked, and explained his rather confusing looking timetable. Every morning was to be spent with the tutor class, in order to get informed of any important news or teachers checking in to see how students are doing. English Literature and Language, Science, Maths and PE were compulsory and had to be attended whilst the other subjects were of Jongdae's choice. He picked Psychology, Art and Music, due to his parent's wishes and his own passion for the arts.  

 

The shrill noise went off again which signalled the start of the rest of his day. Picking up his bag, he slowly made his way to double science- just thinking about it made him shudder, not that he hated science, he just didn’t want to do it so early on a Monday. Just narrowly finding the right room in the Lower campus, he sat in the first seat he could find and caught his breath. 

 

"Mr Kim I presume?" a deep voice came from somewhere behind him and he turned. "You were almost late to my class and I do not tolerate lateness. But welcome to the school and I hope you can ensure to stick by the rules whilst you are in my class." The teacher sauntered off to the front to get the student's attention. Jongdae took out his notepad and pen and sat forward to listen to the teacher drone on about cellular mitosis or whatever, he zoned out after the first 20 minutes.  

 

The 10 minute break he had before the next lessons started went quicker than he expected, not even getting the chance to find his new friends, to moan about how much of a total dick Mr Taylor is and how utterly boring his lesson was. Thankfully, double maths with Mrs Bell went past quickly, he didn't know how much he could stand of her terrible high pitched voice explaining how to find a missing angle on a triangle. 

 

'Thank god for lunch' he thought, as the shrill noise rang across the building. He grabbed his bag and made a beeline to the cafeteria he walked past when he was on his way to maths. He scanned the cafeteria for the boys and saw them sitting in a small corner and quickly ran over. "Hey guys," he said breathlessly as he collapsed into an empty seat.  

 

"Hey man what's wrong, you look like shit right now," asked Chanyeol, which earned him a slap under side the head from Baekhyun 

 

"Dude, you can't just say that!" 

 

"And you can't keep hitting me like that Baek, it hurts!" 

 

The boys began to bicker which caused a few students to glare at them for making so much noise. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and asked how his first day was going so far. 

 

"Well Mr Taylor's a total dick and Mrs Bell could try to speak a little less with that annoying voice of hers, it's been exhausting, and I keep getting lost, how big is this bloody place, how do you deal with it everyday?" rambled Jongdae, taking his lunch out of his bag- he hated cafeteria food after contracting food poisoning once. "Ok guys you can stop that now, people keep looking at us and I don't like it, it's hard enough being the new student you know," the two boys fell silent as Jongdae glared at them.  

 

"Mr Taylor huh? Had him last year, total nightmare, good luck surviving his lessons." said Baekhyun, breaking the awkward silence. 

 

Jongdae laughed and soon the four boys fell into conversation not noticing the time. The shrill noise, which he found out was the bell, indicated lunch was now over, causing him to frantically pack his lunch box away and complain that he was going to get lost again and it was their fault he didn’t realise the time because he wanted to leave at least 5 minutes before.  

 

"Dude calm down, what do you have next?"  

 

"Art." 

 

"Then it's totally fine, you have art with me!" exclaimed Chanyeol, "I'll show you the way and Miss Butler's a push over anyways, she won't care if you're late!" 

 

"Ok then, I think I can trust you...maybe..." Jongdae slowed down, and the pair walked towards the door, the other two boys had already run off exclaiming they were going to be late too.  

 

Jongdae opened the door, 

 

right into a short, chubby boy's nose 

 

who had happened to be holding a cup of tea in his hand 

 

which had happened to spill all over the front of his shirt 

 

which also had drops of blood falling from a bloody nose.   

 

"Oh shit." 

 

 **To: Xiumin 16:50 8/9/14**  

_Fuck my life._

 

\-------------------------- 


	4. Head Prefect Kim Minseok

 \--------------------------  

It was the same routine over and over again, every day. Wake up at 5am; go for a 20 minute jog, shower, breakfast and then school. Minseok was a man of routine and never broke it once.    
Today, however, his alarm did not go off, he slipped in the shower in his rush to get ready for school, he had to skip breakfast, which he hated, and on top of all that, his friends ditched him on the way, which he later found out it was because he was late and Luhan couldn’t wait any longer. (“You waited 5 minutes Han” Yixing scoffed.)  

 

Trying to fix his crooked tie, he trudged along the muddy path that led to the school. The bus only took him so far, and usually he didn’t mind walking the rest of the way but he was already late to the first day of the new year and the mud was really hindering his speed. He finally reached the school, only to find his entire year was in the hall, listening to the head teacher drone on about the new year was important and exams need to be taken seriously- Luhan may or may have not fell asleep halfway during the lecture. Quickly, opening the door, he slipped in and promptly walked into a chair, causing the sound to echo across the hall and about 100 pairs of eyes stare at him as he made his way to an empty seat- turning beet red in the process.  

 

“As I was saying, last year’s prefects have now graduated and we need new students to replace them. As you know, we had a vote across your year, last year, and we have the final results.” The head teacher announced. He read a list of names of the students who were voted in and told them to visit the prefect’s office to pick up their personalised prefects’ ties. "And now for the Head Prefects, the student body have voted for personally! It was a close one, with two of the male candidates almost at a tie!" 

 

"The school's new male Head Prefect is..." He paused, as if for dramatic effect, "Mr Minseok Kim from Class 12A! Congratulations!"  

 

Minseok stood up to make his way up to the front of the hall, head held up. He had waited for this moments for a long time now, ever since his brother had been Head Prefect. He had to get the position and he finally did, maybe now he could make his brother proud. Receiving his brand new Prefects' blazer and badge, he beamed at the crowd of students, and saw Luhan and Yixing furiously clapping away and yelling with excitement. 

 

The head teacher continued to announce the remaining head prefect and other various news they needed to know for the week and were promptly dismissed from the hall to start their first day of classes.     

Having sat through 2 boring lessons, he was definitely glad for lunch time, it was definitely his favourite lesson in the day. Twiddling his new Prefects' badge, he quickly, or tried to, made his way to the cafeteria when he bumped into someone.  

 

"Oh Kris! I didn’t see you there!" he exclaimed, looking up at the tall boy.  

 

"Congratulations Min, I was gonna say something before but I haven't been able to catch up with you recently," said Kris. 

 

"Thanks!" the boy beamed, flashing his badge, "It's pretty damn awesome isn't it?" 

 

Kris laughed, "Yeah I guess it is, I hear Junmyeon's your right hand man right? I should pay him a visit soon, I have a bone to pick with him."  

 

The two boys conversed a while, catching up on their lives and walking towards the double doors leading to the cafeteria. They stopped, allowing Minseok to pick up a cup of tea from the vending machine before pulling on the handle of the door. 

What he failed to realise, however, was another person was behind the door, 

 

which caused him to drop his cup of tea,  

 

because the door had smashed straight onto his nose, which had started to bleed profusely. 

 

He felt as if time had stopped momentarily, everything around him had slowed down, and quietened down- that was odd, the cafeteria was always loud and noisy.  

 

"Oh shit" was all he heard before he passed out.  

 

**To: Chen**   **16:5** **7** **8/9/14**  

_Fuck everything._

\--------------------------  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short Chapter today I do apologise! However, this was Minseok's point of view of the last chapter! Hope you enjoy this story so far! ♥


	5. Bloody noses and note passing

**To:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk** **  
From:** **chen21@exo.co.uk**

 **Subject: RE:** **Congrats!!**  

 

 **Attached: 5 files: photo1.jpg; photo2.jpg; photo3.jpg; photo4.jpg; photo5.jpg**  

 

Congrats on football captain! You'll be an awesome one, don't worry!  

Aha what colour is it? I was thinking of dyeing my hair soon...what colour do you think I should go? haha 

Yeah, new school, I hate it already, you don’t even know, I have never hated school as much as I am now, I still can't get over what I did, I don't even want to think about it! I'm hated already T__T 

 

Oh yeah I forgot! I moved to Beverley, it's such a dumb town, I swear the other day when I was trying to sleep, a cow tried to get into my house! I heard it, but no one believed me T__T The cows are out to get me, you gotta help please 

I attached a few photos I took when I went exploring the other day, I hope my photography skills got better since the last time! :D  

 

Have a good day Min :) 

 

Chen! 

 

PS of course I love ya man, how could I not?? 

 

\-------------------- 

 

Minseok was running as fast as he could, stumbling every so often. Looking back, he could see it chasing him relentlessly. He was running out of energy, his legs could only take him so far before he tripped on a tiny rock and fell face down into the mud. The thing loomed over him and picked him up, slowly bringing Minseok to it's lips. Opening its giant mouth, he squirmed in its hand.  

 

"I give into the Pasta Lord! Spare me!" he cried, flinging his arms around as he tried to get away.  

 

"Mr Kim will you please stop this ridiculous behaviour!" the nurse yelled. 

 

Minseok opened his eyes, only to see the nurse and pair of worried eyes watching him.  

 

"What happened?" he said as he slowly sat up. 

 

"You fainted, after your nose got bashed in," the nurse explained. "Mr Kim over there kindly bought you here. Now please sit still whilst I check over you." she said, sternly whilst pressing a hand to his forehead checking for a fever.  

 

"You've lost quite a bit of blood which caused you to faint," she said, "Have you eaten yet?" she asked. 

 

Minseok shook his head and explained that he was about to go get his lunch before the incident. The nurse continued to examine him, thankfully he didn't suffer a broken nose, it was just bruised, and told him he could leave. Noticing the ruined shirt, the nurse threw him a clean new one, telling him to change before going back to classes, and left the office. Sighing, he started to unbutton his shirt until he head a loud squeak from the corner. He turned to see the boy who had bought him into the nurse's office looking at him with wide eyes.  

 

"Um sorry I'll leave... sorry... I'm really sorry about today as well... I didn't mean to hit you... I didn't see you behind the door..." Jongdae trailed off, watching the other's face twist into an irritated frown. 

 

"Save it, I don't need your apologies," snapped Minseok. "Watch where you go next time, and don't let me run into you again, you total fucking idiot." He turned his back on Jongdae and continued to unbutton his shirt, ignoring every sorry that came out of his mouth. He couldn't really blame the boy for hurting him but he was definitely sure that the boy was going to pay for this.   

 

Jongdae bolted out of the room as fast as he could. He felt intimidated by the boy and staying there longer than was necessary definitely looked like a death wish. He knew the rest of the year was going to be total hell for him. Slinking into the last 10 minutes of his art class, passing the note the nurse wrote for him to the teacher, he slumped into an empty chair beside Chanyeol.   

 

"Dude you ok? How's the kid?" Chanyeol asked.  

 

"Yeah he's not a kid Chan, he's in the year above us, and now my life is over," whined Jongdae. "I managed to piss off one of the scariest looking kid in the year above us and now I'm going to die. Chan you have to help me!"  

 

"Dude, relax, nothing's going to happen. You didn't see him there and you said sorry to him like a billion times." 

 

"He's head prefect, my life is over!" Jongdae slumped in chair further, just as the bell rang for the last lesson of the day. Bidding Chanyeol goodbye, he made his way to his english class, rather reluctantly.  

 

"Hi! I'm Junmyeon but if it's easier, you can call me Suho!"   

 

He looked up to see a short, dark haired boy grinning at him, and gesturing at an empty chair next to him. Taking the seat, he offered one of his own bright smiles.  

 

"Thanks, I'm Jongdae, I just started here," he said 

 

"I know, I heard, it's been ages since we had a new student here. How has your day been so far then?  

 

"Like hell. I want to go home and never leave my room again."  

 

Before Junmyeon could ask the boy to elaborate, the teacher breezed into the class and started her class. As Jongdae started to copy down the notes, a small piece of paper fell on his notepad. Picking it up, he looked around to see who had passed him the note and saw Junmyeon mouthing at him to open it.  

 

**What happened earlier?**

 

He picked up his pen to write his reply 

 

 _I accidentally opened a door on the Head Prefect's nose_  

 

He quickly passed it to the other. Junmyeon chuckled at the reply and hastily replied. 

 

**Minseok right? I see, that explains the amount of hate texts I'm getting from my brother about a and I quote here "dumbass blind fucker" Sorry man I hope we can still be friends?**

 

_Yeah don’t worry, let me get over this first heh >.< _

 

The boys ended up passing notes through out the lesson, almost getting caught by the teacher who was droning on about Of Mice and Men and the symbolism behind the scenery- frankly, no one really cared, they just wanted to go home already. By the end of the lesson, the boys had exchanged numbers, Jongdae was glad he was making friends even with the horrible day he was having.  

 

The bell rang and Jongdae grabbed his backpack and made his way back to his form class, finding Kyungsoo on the way.  

 

"Hey I heard what happened, you okay?" He asked 

 

"Yeah I am, the head prefect's kinda scary though," Jongdae said just as a person barged into him. He looked up and saw Minseok glaring at him. 

 

"Again? Really? Do you really not look where you are going or something? I guess you really are blind, what's the point of even wearing glasses in the first place." Minseok walked off in a huff, causing Jongdae to just stand and stare at his retreating back. His face was twisted in an expression that screamed 'I'm going to kill a bitch tonight'. He was eventually tugged away by Kyungsoo towards the classroom, still looking as if he could murder someone.  

 

"Kyungsoo?" 

 

"Yes Jongdae?" 

 

"What did I do in my past life to deserve this?"  

 

Kyungsoo sighed and patted him on the back, comforting the boy.  

 

Once his teacher had dismissed the class, Jongdae could only yell in delight as he bounded to the bus stop. Movement in the nearby sports field caught his eye, and he slowed down to watch the boys football team starting to warm up. He recognised the pink haired boy and Minseok from the other day and in that split second, he made eye contact with Minseok who had stopped to stare at Jongdae. It felt like ages before Jongdae looked away, flushing red.  

 

"Jongdaaaaaeeeee!" came a screech as he saw Baekhyun running towards him. The boy stopped to catch his breath before continuing. "Hey do you want to hang out with us at the café? I totally forgot to ask earlier, Chanyeol made me run all the way back here," he panted.  

 

"Sure I guess, when?" 

 

"Now? We're all meeting up there now, the bus should be here in a bit, let's go wait." 

 

Glancing back at the field again, the boys walked down the path to the bus stop chatting softly.  

 

"Minseok, you're spacing out again." Luhan waved his hand in front of Minseok's face, trying to get a reaction out of him. 

 

"Huh?" 

 

"Maybe you lost too much blood man, I think you should go home." Luhan suggested. "You don't look fit enough today, you've gone pale." 

 

"Yeah I think I might, I feel a little unwell," Minseok jogged back to where his coach to let him know, grabbed his bag and headed towards the bus stop. Maybe a nice cup of tea was all he needed as he made his way down to the small, run down café he often visited.  

 

**From: Chen 17:10 8/9/14**

_Bad day for you too huh?_

 

**To: Chen 17:30 8/9/14**

**Attached: WP_001101.jpg**

_All I need is tea <3_

\--------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was feeling particularly accomplished today cause I completed a (srsly scary) phone interview AND uploaded my complete grade transcript to do a Master's degree so new chapter :)


	6. Rainy Days

\-----------------------------------

**To: chen21@exo.co.uk** **  
From:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk**

 

 **Subject: RE:** **I** **DARE YOU TO DO IT PINK**  

 

Thanks, you're too nice to me<3 

 

The idiot dyed it some ridiculous pink colour but I think he might be changing it again, this kid is ruining his hair, what is he doing?! The person he's trying to impress too keeps changing his hair colour too, I think it might be a battle of hair or something, I give up! 

 

Talking of cows, my mum the other day got attacked by one apparently! She was walking home with that guy I told you about and a cow was following her so she ran and it ran after her, I know I shouldn't be laughing at that but when the cow was chasing her, it knocked over the guy and next thing I know I'm opening the door for two people completely soaked in mud!  

 

Oooh I love the pictures thanks! I printed them and put them up on my huge photo wall! They came out really nicely! I think I recognise the area! There's this really nice café I like visiting there actually! 

 

Anyways TTYL! 

 

Xiumin  

 

\--------------------  

6:30 am. Another day of school, another day of hell. Dragging himself out of bed, he ran his fingers through his knotted hair and shuffled towards the bathroom. He was exhausted; if that was the right word, Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had kept him in the café until it was almost midnight, how he let them do so- he had no idea. About 4 cups of coffee later, he managed to pry himself off the comfortable sofa he called Chanyeol and stumbled back home, full of energy and caffeine. He had also somehow avoided a lecture from his parents, who were surprisingly glad he came home late, he'd finally made friends he deemed worthy enough to stick by.  

 

Picking up his toothbrush, he started to brush his teeth. He examined himself in the mirror and grimaced. 'I look like shit' he thought, rinsing his toothbrush and placing it back into the container. He dressed as slowly as he could, trying to avoid the fact he had to go to school, who knew what would happen next. Maybe he'd trip up the head teacher by accident? He just had to open a bloody door on the head prefect's stupid nose on the first day of school, what luck.  

 

"Dae honey, are you done? You'll miss the bus!" his mother called. 

 

"I'm almost done! I'll be down in a bit!" he called back. 

 

He picked up his bag and swung it onto his shoulder and walked downstairs, where his mum was preparing breakfast. Grabbing a banana, he set off for the bus stop. As he trudged down the path, black clouds started to roll in, darkening the whole town. Thunder started to rumble as the clouds let out all the rain it was holding on to a poor unsuspecting Jongdae. As the first drop of rain hit Jongdae square in the forehead, he ran. He ran so fast to the bus stop, he could've competed in the Olympics. The rain soaked him to the bone and the path was becoming dangerously muddier. In the distance he could see the bus slowly rolling up the path, he wished for it to be quicker, he hated being wet, especially in his uniform. Soon enough, he boarded the bus, dripping water as he made his way to the back where the other three boys were sat. He squelched as he flopped down into his, causing him to groan with discomfort.  

 

"You didn't check today's weather did you?" 

 

"Is it obvious?" 

 

He spent the whole of tutor in the boys' bathroom, desperately trying to dry his clothes as best as he could. On the way to the school, Baekhyun had let Jongdae under his umbrella, not that it even made a difference- he was already wet. The bell rang and he gave up, his uniform only slightly damp now and plodded towards his first class, his wet shoes squeaking against the ground.  

His first classes- English Literature and Language- went by quicker than he'd expected, his break spent with Chanyeol stuffing their faces with food they bought at the canteen before heading off to his Psychology class. He chose a seat near the front of the class and sat down, shrugging off his jacket and bag. He began to take out his notebook and pen when the door opened and heard a familiar voice. Jerking his head up, he made eye contact with the one person he really did not want to see today.  

 

"Listen up class! We have a special person with us today! One of our star Psychology students from Year 12 shall be joining us today, as part of his research so please answer his questions if he asks you and treat him with respect." the teacher nudged Minseok, asking him to introduce himself. 

 

"Hello everyone, I'm Head Prefect Minseok, and I hope we can work well together." He smiled, scanning the room full of the younger students, until his eyes landed on the one person he couldn’t stand already.  Maintaining the eye contact with the younger boy, he continued, "I hope you can answer my questions as honestly as you can, after all my end of year grade depends on all of you."  

 

As he made his way to the back of the class, to allow the teacher to get on with his lesson, he "bumped" into Jongdae's table causing his notebook to fall down. Sighing, Jongdae ignored Minseok's sarcastic sorry's and bent down to pick it up.  

 

The lesson went on, with Minseok occasionally asking students questions, and boring holes into the back of Jongdae's head with his staring. By the end of the class, he had asked every student excluding Jongdae, he explained that he had more than enough answers than was needed and there was no need for the whole class to participate, making the younger huff in disbelief and start packing his things up. As usual he was the last to exit the class, with Minseok still talking to the teacher about his work. He turned and headed out the door when he was shoved out of the way causing him to fall hard on his arm, his glasses falling and snapping as it hit the ground. A hand was offered to him and he looked up, only to see Minseok's smirking face.  

 

"Need a hand?" he asked 

 

"Not from you, no." the younger retorted, shoving the hand away.  

 

He groaned as he picked himself up, his wrist hurting from the fall, and picked up his broken glasses, putting them in his pocket for safe keeping.  

 

"You should've seen where you were going." Minseok said as he breezed past.  

 

"You should've seen where you were going, yeah right you broke my glasses you major asshole." Jongdae muttered to himself as he walked to the canteen, well he hoped he was going to the canteen, he couldn’t see anything.   

 

"Jongdae? Is that you?" a familiar came from behind him. He turned and squinted at the figure in front of him. 

 

"Junmy- Suho?"  

 

"Ah hello Jongdae, how are you? I noticed you were stumbling around a bit, I was wondering if you were okay?" 

 

"I'm ok, but my wrist hurts and I can't see a single thing." He tried to focus on Suho's face but it was too blurry, his head starting aching and it felt like a thousand hammers were pounding away in his skull, he really needed his glasses.   

 

"What happened? Your wrist looks swollen!" Suho said, gently inspecting the boy's wrist. "Come on I'll take you to the nurse."  

 

"I fell earlier, I was pushed," He hesistated to tell Suho that it was actually his brother who had put him in this situation. "My glasses broke too and my contacts are at home." 

 

Suho gently guided Jongdae to the nurses office, making sure he didn't trip over random students on the way.  

"Back again Mr Kim?" The nurse raised an eyebrow, not many people visited the nurse in two consecutive days. "You didn't open a door on someone else's face did you?" she joked. 

 

Jongdae shook his head, "I fell and hurt my wrist," he held out his swollen left wrist. His face contorted into pain as she examined it.  

 

"It's a little bit sprained, dear, not broken and nothing to worry about," she wrapped a bandage around his wrist to support it and advised him to take some pain killers when he can. 

 

Suho wrapped his arm around Jongdae and led him towards the canteen, to get his lunch, and towards his friends. Once Suho was happy the boy was ok, he left, bidding Jongdae goodbye. The boy smiled and waved at Suho.  

 

"What happened Dae?" Kyungsoo fussed, noticing the bandage.  

 

"I fell earlier, no big deal, just a slight sprained wrist, and I broke my glasses." He explained, waving his hand to show he was fine. "Now let's eat, I'm starving!"  

 

"Jongdae, why are you eating spaghetti with a spoon?"  

 

"Oh. Sorry." 

 

 **From: Xiumin 19:45 9/9/14**  

_I'm so bored, football practice just ended but I don’t feel like going home_

 

 **To: Xiumin 20:03 9/9/14**  

 _I'm doing my homework on the roof lol_   

 

 **From: Xiumin 20:06 9/9/14**  

 _Room for one more?_  

 

 **To: Xiumin 20:09 9/9/14**  

_Of course ;)_

\--------------------


	7. Full of Surprises

\-----------------------------------

He locked his phone and laid back on the roof top. He'd been up there since he came home. He couldn't stand his parents lectures of keeping safe and looking after his belongings. His wrist was starting to hurt again as he tried to get into a more comfortable position. The rain had let off for the few hours he'd been up on the roof, his wet uniform was hanging in the bathroom drying off (that was the first and last time he'd ever leave the house without an umbrella). As the first drop of rain fell on his face, he scrambled to gather all his papers and books and headed back down, not ready to face even more yelling about how he was useless and a klutz. He'd found his spare glasses in a small dusty box, but he'd rather be seen dead than in those. He had no choice but to wear the contact lenses he hated wearing, he always complained he looked like an alien without his glasses ("But Dae honey, a handsome alien" his mother would always say)  

Opening the door to his room, he walked in and promptly collapsed on his bed. A faint beeping noise indicated he had a message and went to dig it out of his pocket.  

 

**From: Xiumin 21:02 9/9/14**

_I'm so bored, my dumb friend won't stop yapping about his even more dumb crush, help! T__T_

 

**To: Xiumin 21:04 9/9/14**

_What are you doing now?_  

 

**From: Xiumin 21:06 9/9/14**

_I'm in this really cute café, near school, the bus is taking ages to come_

 

**To: Xiumin 21:09 9/9/14**

_I'd come out and meet with you but I'm exhausted, I'm gonna go to bed now, hope your bus comes quickly_  

 

And thus, Jongdae fell sound asleep, ignoring the throbbing pain in his wrist. 

 

The next three school days went as Jongdae expected: cold, raining and Minseok slipping in as many snarky comments as he could whenever they passed each other.  

 

"Where's your glasses Jongdae?" 

 

"You look like an alien," 

 

"Nerd," 

 

"Jongdae," 

 

"When's your spaceship coming to take you back?" 

 

"What planet are you from Jongdae?" 

 

"Jongdae," 

 

"Fuck you." 

 

The weekend came and Jongdae couldn't be happier. The boys had invited him out to "do manly things", Chanyeol had called it. In real fact, they just sat in their usual seat in the little café causing a ruckus.  

 

"So guys, did you hear?" Baekhyun started, as they finally settled down, 

 

"Luhan, in year 12, is like totally in love with Sehun from year 10, he keeps dying his hair ridiculous colours to attract the kid." 

 

"But isn't Sehun, like, 15?"  

 

"Yeah, but people are saying that they hooked up at this party, and now Luhan's in love, but Sehun gives no shits about that kid"  

 

"Baekhyun, you shouldn't be listening to all the dumb rumours. Just because you don't like Luhan, doesn't mean you should spread them more," said Kyungsoo, the voice of reason. 

 

The bell on the door behind them tingled and they all turned to see who came in. 

"Luhan! What a pleasant surprise!" exclaimed Baekhyun, clapping his hands and looking as if he was about to hug the pink haired boy standing at the doorstep. 

 

"Oh shut the fuck up, we both know it isn't," Luhan sneered, moving out of Baekhyun's way. 

 

"True, but someone has to be happy to see you, I hear not even your mum is happy to see your ugly face," Baekhyun bit back. 

 

Minseok smirked at the two continuously goading each other before scanning the shop for a table. He found an empty table, dragging Luhan away, who was still screaming profanities at the purple haired boy. Not noticing Jongdae at the table beside him, he sat down, threatening to strap Luhan down if he didn't stop and sit down, he looked up and locked eyes with Jongdae, wide eyed and mouth slightly agape.  

 

"What a pleasant surprise, Jongdae," said Minseok, "Funny running in to you here, please tell me why you happen to be sitting next to me?" 

 

Jongdae snorted in disbelief. "Huh please, you're the one who sat next to me, rather me, I think you're the one who needs glasses here." 

 

"At least I’d look hot in glasses, you just look like a giant nerd," 

 

"Excuse you Kim Minseok, all the ladies dig the nerd look now," 

 

"When's the last time you even had contact with a lady, nerd?" 

 

"When's the last time YOU had contact with a lady?" 

 

The two boys fell silent and looked away from each other. Neither spoke for a while, Luhan prodding Minseok in the back slyly every second as if to say 'Look he knows your secret now'. 

 

Laughing nervously, Jongdae turned to Kyungsoo, 

"Hey, how about we get out of here...now...please...?"  

 

Nodding, the boys left the café, leaving Chanyeol behind to keep Baekhyun from pouncing onto the grinning Luhan every so often.  

 

"You're gay, Jongdae?" Kyungsoo said, as he watched the other scuff the ground with his shoe as they walked.  

 

"Not really, I like women too..." he answered slowly.  

 

He was afraid of what his only friends would say about his sexual orientation- he wasn't open about it at all, and when people had found out, they'd leave him days after without a single word. He was afraid of losing his friends, he couldn't help being attracted to men and women alike, he tried to get over what his mum would call "a phase", but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't. His best friend had left him bleeding on the ground after a few troublemakers had found out about him, telling him he was filth for even looking at men in that way, causing him to go through years of depression, he couldn't go through that again with his new friends, no way he was not ready for that yet.  

 

"That's okay Jongdae, please don't cry. I accept you for who you are." Kyungsoo said, wiping Jongdae's tears away. He blinked in surprise, he didn't even know he was crying, and at how easily Kyungsoo had accepted him. Noticing the boy's surprise, he comforted him with a hug. 

 

"Chanyeol and Baekhyun will accept you too, there's nothing to be ashamed of okay? We like you for who you are, not who you like." 

 

"How can you be so sure about Chanyeol and Baekhyun?" mumbled Jongdae into Kyungsoo shoulder. 

 

"Have you not noticed? They're a couple, Dae, they have been for a while now,"  

 

"WHAT."  

 

Kyungsoo laughed, "Yeah, it's been oh I think 3 years now, not many people know about them, but they definitely are a couple. You should've seen their honeymoon phase." Kyungsoo made a face which made Jongdae laugh out loud. 

 

"I can't begin to imagine," 

 

A pair of arms wrapped around Jongdae suddenly, and he turned, only to see Baekhyun smiling at him.  

 

"Hey Hey Dae Dae! So you came out huh? Good on you, I had a feeling about you," he teased. 

 

"Well I hear you and elf boy over there are a couple? Would you like to explain why I didn't know about this?"  

 

"Weeeeell...."  

 

The boys laughed together, getting louder and louder as they walked down the path towards Jongdae's house.  

 

Finally. He was no longer alone.

 -----------------------------------


	8. Mentors

\-----------------------------------

**To: chen21@exo.co.uk** **  
From:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk**

**Subject: RE:** **I** **think it's time?**  

 

Hey hey, how's my favourite person doing?  

 

So I had a funny thought,  

Since we've basically figured out we live in the same place,  

How about we meet up? It's been so long, I think it's time, don't you think? 

 

Let me know? 

 

TTYL! 

 

Xiumin   

 

  -----------------------------------

September was almost drawing to a close with Jongdae's birthday approaching fast. The weather was starting to get cold and leaves were starting to change colour, occasionally falling, and often straight into Jongdae's face as he trudged down the path to the bus stop. Grumbling at the changing weather, he boarded the bus, going straight to the boys sat at the back making the most noise.  

 

"Hey Dae, what are you doing for your birthday?" asked Chanyeol as the boy sat down.  

 

"No idea, probably just sleep all day, who's actually bothered to move on a Sunday?" said Jongdae. 

 

"We should do something man, it's your first birthday here,"  

 

"You guys make it sound as if it's my first birthday, change my nappy and give me my milky" laughed Jongdae, earning a slap to the back of the head by Kyungsoo.  

 

"Video games and drinks all day, how's that sound?" asked Chanyeol. 

 

"As long as you provide the drinks dude," agreed Jongdae. 

 

"Come on guys, we're here, let's go or we'll end up trapped in the bus all day," said Kyungsoo as he pulled at Baekhyun, who was currently asleep drooling against the window. 

 

"KYUNGSOO I SWEAR TO GOD SLAP ME ONE MORE TIME." yelled Baekhyun, as he shot up rubbing his cheek and glared at the smirking boy.  

 

Jongdae rolled his eyes and got off the bus with Kyungsoo, leaving Chanyeol to tend to his wailing boyfriend. "Did you hear about the mentors we might be getting Dae? Apparently they're all from Year 12."    

 

"Yeah I heard, I just hope if I am selected I don’t get Head Prefect Kim because I just might fling myself off a cliff somewhere if I do."  

 

"You two need to calm the fuck down, mind my language, but it's getting ridiculous now, what is up with you both?" 

 

"No idea, ever since I opened the door on his nose, he's been like that, frankly he needs to get over it because I cannot go another day listening to him talk. All he does is talk, talk, talk, and where the heck did he get the name alien from? Why am I an alien? Do I look like an alien?" rambled Jongdae, kicking the floor as he made his way to his form class.      

 

"Dae you're rambling again, come on let's go in now." Kyungsoo led the boy into the room, who immediately slumped into his chair. 

 

"Ok listen up class, now that you are all here, I can now introduce to you the new mentoring project we, as a year, are running." said their form tutor. "Selected students will be paired with a mentor from Year 12, this will benefit both of you and will ensure you are getting the best grades at the end of this year." He explained. "Those who have been selected will have their first mentor meeting later today, and your mentors have already been chosen for you."  

 

He placed a thick stack of envelopes on the desk, "When I call your name, please come to the front and take your information pack, inside will have all the details you need and the name of your mentor." 

 

As his tutor called Jongdae to the front, he suddenly felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. What if he actually did get Minseok, what if he has to spend a month of non stop mentoring with the guy who's been tormenting him every minute of the school day. Shaking his head free of the thoughts, he took the envelope and quickly made his way back to his seat. He looked at Kyungsoo and the boys wordlessly decided to open both their envelopes at the same time.  

 

"Ready?" 

 

"Ready." 

 

"Who did you get Soo?" 

 

"Some kid called Lay, who did you get?" 

 

Taking a deep breath in, he slid out the piece of paper and read the name.  

 

"Oh, some guy called Leo or something," 

 

He sighed in relief and slumped back in his chair. In the distance, he could just about hear a faint screaming. Not paying particular attention to it, he gathered his things as the bell rang, signalling the start of the day. 

 

Lunch came and the boys met up in the cafeteria, comforting a visibly shaking Baekhyun. When the boy had failed to give answers why he was in such a state, Chanyeol had stepped in to explain. 

 

"Guess who his mentor is..." 

 

"No way." 

 

"It can't be!" 

 

"It is. The fantabulous Baekhyun Byun is paired with the one and only LuHan." 

 

The boys collectively groaned as Baekhyun let out another strangled sob.  

 

"You poor thing. Wait was that screaming I heard in the morning, you?!" When Baekhyun didn't answer, Jongdae looked over at Chanyeol. 

 

"Yes it was." 

 

Recovering from his mental breakdown temporarily, Baekhyun asked the other boys who their mentors were. 

 

"I have Lay, really nice Chinese kid, transferred here a year ago." said Kyungsoo. 

 

"I got my bro Kris," Chanyeol grinned. 

 

"Leo, I have no idea who he is, I don't think I've ever seen him before." said Jongdae. 

 

"Ooooh you have Taekwoonie! His real name's Taekwoon but the people here couldn't pronounce his name so now he's Leo." squealed Baekhyun. "He's also a real cutie pie, but he's way too quiet." 

 

"So I guess it's only me with an actual demon as a mentor then?" Baekhyun asked sadly. 

 

"Yup and with that, I am off to meet with my, as so you would call it, cute mentor." Jongdae stood up and brushed himself down before grabbing his stuff and headed towards the doors. Just as he was about to open the door, it opened from the other side to reveal none other than Minseok himself.  

 

"Oh well hello there, if it isn't my favourite alien!" 

 

"Shut up Minseok."  

 

"Do you want to be in detention?" 

 

"No, sorry Head Prefect." 

 

"I thought so, now off you pop alien, I have better things to do than talk to you." Minseok sauntered off leaving Jongdae to scoff in disbelief.  

 

'Whatever I don’t even care, he's annoying' he thought.  

 

'Oh this must be the room'. He stopped at a red door with a paper sign declaring 'LEO' barely hanging on. He knocked cautiously and waited.  

 

Hearing a faint "Come in!", he took a deep breath in and opened the door. 

 

"Ah you must be Jongdae!" 

  -----------------------------------


	9. Let the celebrations begin!

\-----------------------------------

**To:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk**   **  
From:** **chen21@exo.co.uk**

 

**Subject: RE:** **My Birthday**  

 

It's time definitely! Yeah I think it's time we met up,  

um 

my birthday is coming up soon, it's on the 21st- Sunday- and a bunch of friends and I are just gonna play video games and drink all day at mine on Saturday, do you want to come?  

 

Let me know ok? 

 

Chen 

\----------------------------------- 

 

"Come in!" said the voice and Jongdae walked into the room, only to find two boys playing an intense game of- 

 

"Go-Fish!" 

 

"Dude you cheated, I know you did!" 

 

"Whatever, dude, my mentee is here, get out now." 

 

"I'll beat you next time!" 

 

"You said that the last 10 times." 

 

Leo pushed the wailing boy out of the room and turned to Jongdae. 

 

"Hey I'm Leo, I'll be your mentor for the rest of the month, I didn't choose to do this but here I am." said the expressionless boy as he waved Jongdae over to a seat.  

 

"Uh, I'm Jongdae, nice to meet you I guess..." 

 

"So apparently I'm to mentor you in Psychology. That's all cool and all but I'd rather play cards for now, you know how to play Go-Fish?" 

 

"Yeah, I do," 

 

"Great. You won't beat me though." 

 

"Bring it on." 

 

"Go-Fish." 

 

Jongdae looked up. Leo smirked, the only real expression the other saw in the whole 10 minutes he'd been with him. 

 

"Told you." 

 

Jongdae smiled, "One more game?" 

 

**From:** **Xiumin** **17:45** **17** **/9/14**  

_I'll be there! Text me the address? :)_

 

Saturday came, and Jongdae was preparing for the guests soon to arrive. Chanyeol had somehow convinced Jongdae to hold a party, the former just about inviting anyone he could find all the while ignoring Jongdae's pleas. He paced up and down the hallway nervously, occasionally checking if there were enough drinks and food. His parents and younger brother were pushed out of the house in the early hours of the day, leaving Jongdae to internally freak out in peace- he had never hosted a party before. Most of all, he was terrified because today would be the day he finally meets the guy he's been talking to everyday without fail.   

 

The doorbell rang and Jongdae squeaked in surprise. Opening the door, he came face to face with Baekhyun practically screaming "Happy Birthday" in his face, dragging Chanyeol and Kyungsoo behind him as he made his way to the kitchen to drop off the extra drinks he had bought. 

 

"Happy Birthday bro, here we got you something," said Chanyeol, tossing him a small box. 

 

"Thanks, I wasn't expecting anything but it was nice of you guys." said Jongdae, pulling the ribbon to open the box, to reveal a brand new watch.  

 

"We all chipped in for it," beamed Kyungsoo. 

 

"Thank guys, it's great!" Jongdae smiled at the trio with the most genuine feeling he could muster up, just as the doorbell rang again. He ran to quickly answer the door, bracing himself for the oncoming guests. Smiling, he threw open the door and was met with 6 boys, 1 of which he only recognised, practically shoving drinks and balloons into his hands.  

 

"Happy Birthday," said a tall, blond, deep voiced boy, "I'm Kris, Chanyeol's friend."  

 

"Ah so YOU'RE Kris, okay, hey come in," Jongdae side stepped to let the boys in. 

 

"Happy Birthday Jongdae!" said Junmyeon, the only boy Jongdae had recognised. "Oh this is Yixing," he pointed to a smiling boy with deep dimples who just waved at Jongdae, "but we call him Lay and you've met Kris and these chaps here are Tao, Sehun and Kai."  

 

"Happy Birthday bro," said Sehun- the rainbow haired boy, before he made a bee line for the drinks. As he made his way to the kitchen, he was suddenly held back. Turning, he saw Junmyeon looking at him disapprovingly.  

 

"Sehun you're still young, no drinking for you."  

 

Sehun whined and walked off with Kai and Tao, who just laughed at Sehun, as others began arriving at the door. Jongdae left the door open to allow guests to walk in as they please, and went to the kitchen to put the drinks down. 

 

"Yo Jongdae!" he turned to see Leo, his mentor, at the door dragging a familiar smaller male with him. "I hope you don't mind me bringing my friend with me, this is Hakyeon but call him N if you want. Happy Birthday too."  

 

Jongdae thanked him, nodded his greetings at the boy with Leo and let the pair enter. Just as he was about to turn away from the door, he heard a familiar voice.  

 

"AYO JONGDAE!"   

 

In the distance, he heard a shrill scream getting closer and closer, a running force almost knocking him down. 

 

"LU FUCKING HAN. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" yelled Baekhyun, eyes bulging as he saw the boy enter.  

 

"Chill bro, you look so ugly like that. Besides," he draped an arm over Jongdae's shoulders, "I heard there was a party tonight, and I just had to come. I hope you don't mind Jongdae." He looked at the boy with big doe eyes and Jongdae just sighed, shrugged the arm of his shoulders and told him it was alright.  

 

"Wait, how did you hear about it?" he asked, ignoring Baekhyun's wails of distress and complaints.  

 

"Heard from Leo who told Kris, who told Lay, who passed on the word to Junmyeon for Kris, who told Sehunnie, who told Kai and Tao and then told me again, and I'm pretty sure Junmyeon mentioned it to Minseok too, who should be here soon, he said he was picking up a birthday present but I have a feeling he doesn't know it's you bro, but I didn't want to wait for him because I want to get shit faced drunk now." said Luhan in one breath.  

 

Jongdae sighed again. "Drinks are in the kitchen, help yourself." 

 

"Thanks, and yo Baekhyun shut the fuck up already, don't kill the mood okay." 

 

Baekhyun snarled at Luhan, who just smirked and walked off.  

 

Jongdae walked off dragging Baekhyun with him, dumping him with Chanyeol. The party was now in full swing with people almost on their third drinks and more than half already tipsy. Almost his entire year including some of the older students attended, wishing Jongdae happy birthday, but there was no sign of Xiumin. Xiumin had told him he'd be there soon but the boy was nowhere to be seen. He pulled out his phone to send a quick text to the boy. 

 

**To: Xiumin 21:05 20/9/14**  

_Yo where are you? You're gonna miss the party!_

 

Not a minute passed and he got a reply. 

 

**From: Xiumin 21:05 20/9/14**  

_Almost there, ran into a few troubles, but I'm almost there x_

 

He smiled and put his phone away and made his way to the kitchen to pick up a drink. 

 

"Soooo, who was that, that's got you all schoolgirl in love like huh?" Luhan sidled up to Jongdae, who had been watching the boy text.  

 

"None of your business Luhan." Jongdae moved a little away from the other, "besides I don't even know you very well, why should I tell you?"  

 

"But I know a lot about you though."  

 

"What?" 

 

"Nothing." Luhan put down his empty bottle, picked up another and made his way to the garden, leaving Jongdae confused. 

 

'Well that was creepy' he thought. 

 

A doorbell pulled him out of his thoughts a little while later, and gathered himself before he finally got to see the face of the boy he may or may not really like.  

 

As he made his way to the door, he got lost in his thoughts again with thoughts such as 'what if he doesn't like me back?' and 'what if he thinks I'm not what he thought I was' running over and over again in his head. Suddenly, he tripped over a small boy who grabbed him from falling onto the ground. Blushing, Jongdae looked up to thank the boy when he came face to face with none other than Minseok.  

 

"Why is it that something bad always happens when you're around me huh?" Minseok smirked and let Jongdae go causing him to fall flat on his ass.  

 

"Now please tell me where the birthday boy is so I can get shit faced drunk with Luhan." 

 

"You're looking at him, you asshole." 

 

Jongdae picked himself up, throwing a dirty look at the other and walked off grabbing another drink and towards his laughing friends, feeling disappointed that it was only Minseok and not Xiumin. 

 

Minseok was left in shock as it all began to add up.  

 

"Oh fuck no." 

 

"You're totally screwed aren't ya Xiuie?" Luhan said as he walked over to Minseok with a bottle. "Here now, drink it all away now dear."  

 

Grabbing the bottle, Minseok drank it in one go, and smiled. "Get that shit eating grin off your face and let's get drunk now." 

 

His phone beeped and Minseok pulled it out to check his messages. 

 

**From: Chen** **22:47 20/9/14**  

_How long will you be? You're going to miss the cake too..._

 

**To: Chen 22:49 20/9/14**  

_Sorry, don't think I can make it..._

 

Minseok pocketed the phone and turned to Luhan. "Let's go."  

 

"You can't keep it from Jongdae too long now, it's only going to hurt you both."  

 

"I don't need your love advice now, you're the one doing ridiculous things to get Sehun's attention, I don't think I can trust it." 

 

"But-" 

 

"Zip it Lu."   

 -----------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I'm so glad you guys like this story, I'm always worrying and thinking my story is boring so it really makes me happy when you give me such lovely comments ♥


	10. Drunk Aliens

\-----------------------------------  

Minseok was happy. Today was the day. Picking up his gift, he set off to Chen's house. He smiled as he felt the small box in his pocket and practically skipped to his house. The area started to look more and more familiar as he skipped on, walking past the small café he often escaped too after football practice. His phone beeped and he pulled it out to check, only to find a message from Chen.   

 

**From** **:** **Chen** **21:05 20/9/14**  

 

_Yo where are you? You're gonna miss the party_ _!_  

 

He quickly texted back,  

 

**To** **:** **Chen** **21:05 20/9/14**  

 

_Almost there, ran into a few troubles, but I'm almost there x_  

 

And proceeded to run the rest of the way in order to not disappoint the other. His brother had mentioned that a party was being held in the area a while back and that he was invited, but the boy was too preoccupied with what to wear to hang out with Chen to listen properly, which caused Junmyeon to roll his eyes and leave Minseok wailing under a pile of clothes. He skipped up to a small cottage, checked if it was the right address and rang the doorbell before he realised the door was already wide open. He also noticed the abundance of people- people he recognised from school- around the house. Chen had only said that it would be small gathering so he didn't expect there to be so much people. He grimaced as he stepped over an already drunk boy and promptly walked into someone who almost tripped.  

 

"Why is it that something bad always happens when you're around me huh?" Minseok smirked when he got a better look at the person's face, and let Jongdae go causing him to fall flat on his ass.  

 

"Now please tell me where the birthday boy is so I can get shit faced drunk with Luhan." 

 

"You're looking at him, you asshole." 

 

Minseok was screwed. Totally and utterly screwed. His eyes never left the boy who was making his way back to his friends, his mind in overdrive as he finally realised the situation. Chen was Jongdae. Jongdae was Chen. The boy he spent weeks tormenting was the one he probably couldn't live without talking to every day. He was so screwed, and he had no idea what to even do anymore, he could only just stare at the laughing boy. 

 

"Oh fuck no." 

 

Luhan heard the exclaim and looked over to Minseok from where was standing, and walked over to check if the boy was alright- though it looked like he was about to break down in to tears and possibly more. Looking like the boy could need some help, he picked up a bottle and passed it to Minseok who just downed it in one. His phone beeped and hastily answered it before pocketing the thing and pulling Luhan with him in search for more drinks, there was no way he was going to stay sober any longer at this party.  

 

3, 4, 5 drinks later, Minseok was trashed. Luhan wasn't in a better condition himself, the pair struggling to stand up without support- which proved to be very difficult seeing they were each other's supports. "And so I shaid to her, YOU'RE stooopid!" Minseok roared with laughter retelling a story Luhan had heard many many times before, and stumbled about before he tripped over his own feet. Jongdae, who had been watching the drunken commotion, laughed and went over to help Minseok to his feet before the boy embarrassed himself further. "Jooooooooooooongddddaaaaaeeeeeeeee  you look like an alien a cute alien I like aliens alieeeeeeeenssssshhhhhhhh" the drunken boy hoisted himself up, gripping Jongdae's arm tight and looking him directly in the eye, faces too close than Jongdae would like before the boy spoke again. "do you believe in aliens Jomgdae I do I'm looking at one now there's shpace in yer eyesss" before passing out cold in the other's arms.     

 

Jongdae just looked back at a tipsy Baekhyun and mouthed 'what the fuck was that' in which the other responded with a shrug and knocked back another drink. Considering his options with what to do with a dead to the world Minseok in his arms- giving him to Luhan was out of the question as he was currently draped over a gleeful Sehun- the only thing he could do was to drag him upstairs to his bedroom to let him rest which he did with great difficulty, Minseok was heavier than he looked. He laid the boy on his side on his bed. He stood back to look at the sleeping boy, noticing how peaceful he finally looked- being head prefect and captain of the football was stressful, Minseok was not a stranger to nervous breakdowns, his eyes wandered, wandered to his slightly parted lips, to his rising and falling chest and down to his toned skinny jeans clad legs, letting his eyes wander there for a tad longer before the door to his room open startling the boy who had realised he was staring for too long.  

 

"Hey Jongdae come down now, your parents are home and they have the cake!" said a breathless Baekhyun. Jongdae just mumbled a reply at the boy who was already making his way down. Starting to make his way down too, he looked back at the boy in his bed and smiled softly- he was an asshole most of the time, Jongdae preferred if the boy didn't talk at all. He sighed, closed his door and ran as quickly as he could to the kitchen, the cake was the most exciting part of birthdays.  

 

"Dae honey this place is an absolute tip, I did not let you have the house to yourself for this, this drunken mess!" berated his mother. "You are responsible for clean up or else."  

 

"Ok Ok I will, can we just have the cake now please."  

 

His mother sighed, "Yes, fine, gather everyone who's at least somewhat sober." 

 

A drunken rendition of "Happy Birthday" and several cake fights later, people were starting to make their way home, with Jongdae occasionally yelling at those who were on the brink of passing out to leave. Some couldn’t take him seriously, as he still had bits of cake left on his face when Luhan decided to smash his entire slice into his face. His parents had left him alone to escape the drunken mess and retired for the night. The only ones left were his friends, and Junmyeon's- his only ride home was currently drunk and hitting on Tao who looked rather uncomfortable- friends, with Minseok still passed out upstairs. Baekhyun, being slightly tipsy (Jongdae was amazed at how well Baekhyun could handle his alcohol), stumbled into the living room, holding up a half empty bottle.  

 

"Yooooo guys! Let'ss play truth or dare okaayy!!" 

 

A loud groan was heard from the corner of the room, and everyone turned to see Luhan lift his face up from the sofa he was currently laid across.  

 

"Shut up and go home Baekhyun, no one wants to play your stupid game." 

 

Baekhyun wobbled over to Luhan, and draped himself over the boy, who was failing to escape Baekhyun's hold. 

 

"Luhan. Shut up pleasse. Please. Pleeeaaaassseee."  

 

"Get off me first you annoying dickwaffle." Luhan pushed Baekhyun off him, who fell face first onto the ground.  

 

Chanyeol ran- much like a baby giraffe finding its feet- over to the fallen boy to check if he was ok. He managed to turn the other over to check his face for any damage, before turning back to the group to give them the ok. As he turned back to the boy in his arms, Baekhyun was beginning to stir and tried to sit up, which caused the two boys to collide and smash their faces into one anothers.  

 

"Shit Chanyeol, fuck, why," exclaimed Baekhyun, holding his now bleeding nose.  

 

Jongdae sighed as he watched the commotion from afar, Baekhyun yelling and Chanyeol trying his best to placate the other. Putting his drink down, he exited the living room and decided to check up on Minseok, it was strange to hear the boy being so awfully quiet for so long. Jongdae hoped the other didn’t puke over anything though, that was the second worst thing that could possibly happen today- the first being Xiumin not turning up, he made a mental reminder to yell (over email of course) at the boy when he had the chance too. Before he managed to get halfway up the stairs, the doorbell rang. Jongdae just stared at the door, wondering who could possibly be at the door now. Could it be? Xiumin? 

 

The doorbell rang again, and this time Jongdae ran to the door. Eagerly, he flung the door open. Stood at the doorstep was a short, blond haired man who had a wide grin on his face. Jongdae gaped at him, the other holding out a box motioning Jongdae to take it. 

 

"Happy Birthday baby brother."  

 

"Jonghyun, what. What are you doing here?"  

\-----------------------------------  


	11. Awkward moments and Pancakes

\-----------------------------------

 **To:** **shoemean26@exo.co.uk**   **  
From:** **chen21@exo.co.uk**

 

 **Subject: RE:** **My Birthday**  

 

You didn't come.  

 

I'm mad at you now. 

 

 ----------------------------------- 

 

"Jonghyun, what. What are you doing here?" Jongdae just gaped at the man standing at his doorstep. 

 

"Well? Aren't you going to let me in or are you going to make me sleep on the doorstep?" joked the blond.  

 

Jongdae just gaped at him more before pulling the other into a tight hug, tears forming in his eyes. Reciprocating the hug, Jonghyun chuckled.  

 

"I missed you Jonghyun, I missed you a lot." Jongdae mumbled into Jonghyun's shoulder. 

 

"I missed you too baby bro, but um, can you tell me why there's a really creepy looking dude just staring at us?" 

 

Jongdae whirled around to see Chanyeol staring at them with wonderment.  

 

"Hey aren't you that guy?" 

 

"Uh I am a guy yes? Could you perhaps be a little more specific, there's a lot of guys here right now?"  

 

"The singing guy, you know in that weird band, I forgot what it was called, something like shiny?"  

 

"No I think you have me confused with someone else." 

 

"Oh." An awkward silence fell between the three boys, before Chanyeol piped up again. "Oh Jongdae, um, everyone kinda fell asleep in your living room..." Chanyeol scratched the back of his head awkwardly whilst Jongdae just sighed- he's been doing that lot lately ever since he moved here.  

 

"I'll bring blankets for everyone hang on." Jongdae waved Chanyeol back into the living room, motioned Jonghyun to follow him, first telling him to be quiet as not to wake their parents, and went to grab blankets for all 12 boys fast asleep, which was almost comical as the boys somehow spread themselves out in a massive circle. He pointed out his room to Jonghyun to let him set his stuff down and clean up after his long journey and left briefly only to return to a fast asleep (and drooling) Jonghyun who was currently squished up against their youngest brother. Jongdae smiled at the two who were unconsciously cuddling each other, it had been almost 5 years since they saw their older brother, it was really nice to have him back.            

 

A loud snort from the far side of the room snapped Jongdae out of his reverie and saw Minseok ungracefully fall off the bed face first. He rushed over to him quickly in case the other hurt himself and tried to get him back on the bed. Minseok simply just snored louder and rolled over, cuddling into Jongdae's arm. Jongdae finally managed to hoist the other on the top, but Minseok held on to the boy causing him to topple on to the other. His eyes widened and began to frantically move away which caused Minseok to hold on tighter and Jongdae had no other options but to just stay where he was. 'This isn’t so bad I guess, he is rather warm...' he thought before shaking his head to get rid the thought. 'He is really cute when he's sleeping though' he thought, Minseok immediately let out a loud snore, and grimaced like he was about to puke, Jongdae was quick to take the thought back. 'Maybe not.' He shifted, trying to get comfortable seeing as the other wasn't going to him go anytime soon, causing Minseok to also shift slightly so his arms were tightly wrapped around Jongdae's middle and his head rested in the crook of the other's neck. Minseok's soft breaths soon lulled him to sleep. 

 

Minseok groaned, his head hurt and it felt like he was being crushed and the sunlight in his face didn’t help at all. He groaned again and groggily opened his eyes, squinting as he looked directly into the source of the bright light. He tried to shield his eyes, only to find he couldn't move his arm. Beginning to panic, he tried to sit up only to find he couldn’t do that either. A soft groan was heard and he turned towards the source to see Jongdae sprawled out on top on Minseok. The boy froze and stared at the other sleeping, the boy often sniffing and twitching. Jongdae began stirring, opening his eyes- not being able to focus properly- mouth slightly parted, rubbed his eyes and turned towards Minseok. 'Oh shit he's cute' thought Minseok, he was still frozen, staring at the other, until the other realised exactly where he was sleeping (though later Jongdae admitted he'd rather sleep on top of Minseok than the bed as he was more comfortable). The boys stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, until Jonghyun- who was awake before everyone else, he just enjoyed the strange boy in the room freak out- told the pair to quit staring at each other and kiss already, causing Jongdae to turn a brilliant shade of red.  

 

Minseok was the first to quickly look away, also turning bright red to match the other, scrambling to his feet and running out of the room as quick as he could, before sheepishly slinking back in to the room. 

 

"Um...where's the bathroom...?" 

 

Jongdae was still too frozen to speak, still red and still staring at the space Minseok was. Minseok just stood at the door frame awkwardly, Jonghyun watching the boy watching Jongdae and softly smiled.  

 

"It's probably downstairs, check in the rooms there." said Jonghyun, Minseok stuttered his thanks and ran downstairs, not wanting to be in the room any longer, and Jonghyun chuckled. A small grunt came from beside him and he looked down to see Jongdeok awakening. Taking a few minutes to fully wake up, Jongdeok finally focused on Jonghyun before jumping into his arms. 

 

"JONGHYUN YOU'RE HOME! I MISSED YOU!" yelled the younger as he held on tighter to Jonghyun. 

 

"I missed you too baby bro, I missed you both." Jonghyun also holding on tight.  

 

A shrill yelp caused the two to turn and witness the mental breakdown their brother was having. The boy just flopped back on to the bed face first and screamed into the pillow. The other two boys just looked at each other, laughed and piled on top on Jongdae. 

 

After the boys had managed to drag Jongdae downstairs for breakfast, Jongdae suddenly remembered the 12 boys still in his living room. Quickly running back to the room, he came across the funniest sight. Baekhyun had somehow migrated from Chanyeol to Luhan and the pair were in the tightest cuddle ever seen, the pair were definitely going to die in shock when they were finally up. He pulled out his phone and snapped pictures, just in case he needed Baekhyun to do him a favour. Tao was being held down by Kris which Tao did not appreciate in the slightest, Suho was sprawled all over Lay and Lay was almost on top of Sehun and Kai who were curled up in the foetus position. The others were either in the armchairs or curled up on the sofa like sardines, or in Chanyeol's case, half on the chair and half on the floor. Jongdae lightly kicked the boy awake, proceeding to wake the others up, except leaving Luhan and Baekhyun sleeping soundly.  

 

Jongdae just watched by the side lines, watching the boys scoff all the pancakes his brothers had made. How they managed to get honey and maple syrup EVERYWHERE was beyond him but there was no way he was going to clean all that up, nope no way, and left the kitchen, well tried as he got dragged back in by Jonghyun. His protests were cut off by a shrill scream, which indicated either Luhan or Baekhyun had finally woken up. The boys all looked up as they heard the continuous screams, grinned and carried on devouring the sweet treats, with only Chanyeol looking mildly concerned about the commotion. Luhan and Baekhyun soon entered the kitchen, both looking dishevelled and tired, and throwing deadly looks at each other every so often. Luhan went straight over to Minseok who had his arms wide open for the boy, whilst Baekhyun plopped down beside Chanyeol who ended up feeding him like a baby.  

 

"Jongdae? Honey? What's with all the screaming?" his mother called down from the stairs.  

 

Jonghyun's eyes widen as he heard their mother come down the stairs to investigate and immediately sought for a hiding place.  

 

"Jongdae, hide me quick, quick, please." he begged as he began to pace the kitchen. Just as Jongdae managed to stuff his brother into an empty storage cupboard, their mother popped her head into the kitchen and saw the huge mess the boys had made.  

 

"Good morning boys," she greeted the staring boys, 

 

 "What is all this mess?" she frowned, knowing she had hours of clean up ahead of her- Jongdae said he would, but knowing him, he probably already forgot. 

 

Jongdae nervously laughed, "um the boys stayed over last night so we made them breakfast and I guess we didn’t realise they'd be this messy..."  

 

"Fine, let me know when they leave." said his mother after what felt like an eternity and made her way back up stairs.  

 

Jongdae let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding, and a knock from the far end of the kitchen rang out.  

 

"Dae, is she gone yet?"  

 

"Yeah you can come out now."  

 

"Oh thank god, I thought I was going to die in there!" Jonghyun said, as he climbed out and brushed himself down.  

 

The others just gaped at Jonghyun, who just laughed.  

 

"Don’t worry about it guys, just finish eating already." He said, as he could tell the boys were itching to know.  

 

An hour later, the boys were ready to leave, they had tried their best to clean the living room as best as they could before giving up. One by one, they all left in the groups they had arrived in the night before, leaving Minseok to be the last to leave. He stood awkwardly in the doorway with Jongdae, neither saying a word.  

 

"Um..." 

 

They both started at the same time, both getting more and more flustered.  

 

"Go on..." Jongdae urged Minseok to carry on. 

 

"I...erm..I just wanted to..erm.. say sorry for yesterday..." Minseok managed to cough out, turning bright red in the process. He went to turn towards the door to leave, before stopping and faced Jongdae.  

 

Mumbling under his breath, he forced himself to retain eye contact with the other. 

 

"I...sorry..." he mumbled, half of it hard to understand, before embracing the confused boy in a tight, warm hug, and then ran out the door before Jongdae could come back to his senses. In the back, Jonghyun and Jongdeok snickered away at the two, laughing at the obvious tension between them.  

 

"Huh." was all Jongdae could say in his daze.           

 ----------------------------------- 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick update cause I'm graduating tomorrow!! I'm so excited, I've worked way too long and hard for this moment!!! Also did you see blond Jongdae?? cause I am D E C E A S E D bYE


	12. Heart to Hearts, Apologies and Group Projects

 ----------------------------------- 

To say Minseok was totally fine was an understatement, because no, he was not okay- he was far from okay. He was freaking out, constantly telling himself to think straight and rationally about what he just did.

"Shit, what do I do now?"

"What did you do Min?"

"FUCK LU, don't sneak up on a person like that!" screamed Minseok at a laughing Luhan.

"What's up, you look really down now." Luhan said, concerned about his best friend, "Come on I'll treat you to a cup of tea and you can tell me then."

Minseok just nodded and followed Luhan to their favourite café.

A hot cup of tea was slid in front of Minseok who caught it before it slid completely off the table. "Seriously Lu, one day it's gonna fall off,"

"That one day won't happen dear, now talk. Is this about that kid, you know the one who slammed that door in your face?"

"Shut up, and yes it is."

"Do you like him?"

"I...I don't know Lu, I really don't. He pisses me off and he almost broke my nose, yet every time I see him, I can't help but feel weird,"

"So, what will you do about it then?"

"Lu, you know he's the same person as my penpal, how is that possible, the penpal I've grown to adore over the years and the first time I meet him I'm a horrible dick to him,"

"I just honestly don't know what to do, I'm so confused, do I like Chen or Jongdae?"

"They're the same person Min, there's no difference."

"Yeah, but Chen is sweet and adorable and funny and Jongdae is... a sarcastic arsehole I want to strangle," said Minseok exasperatedly.

"How about this, apologise for being a mean dickhole to Jongdae and try again?"

"I...guess...I could do that...maybe. What if he doesn't accept my apology, what do I do then?"

"Well then, you leave him alone for good."

"Okay."

"Okay cool, now drink your tea, I paid for that shit you know."

"Idiot."

"Love you too Minnie."

 ----------------------------------- 

"So Dae, spill, who's the guy?"

"Some prefect at my new school, I accidentally opened a door in his face and now he won't leave me alone,"

"Sounds like fun," Jonghyun said, with a slight smirk.

"Jonghyun please, if you have something you want to say, just tell me."

"Do you like him?"

"No! Well... I don't know, it's complicated okay."

"Why?"

"Cause sometimes he looks so sweet and so cute, and then he opens his goddamn mouth."   

"I don't know, can we forget this topic please? I missed you, where have you been this whole time?"

"Oh travelling, ever since mum kicked me out, that's all I've been doing, meeting new people, new food, new languages, new...relationships..."

"There's a whole new world out there, staying in London was not for me, I was free and finally felt happy, I just wish I didn't have to leave you two alone, that broke me more,"

"You could have sent letters or anything, emails, texts, anything Jonghyun, I needed you the most."

"I know, and I am really sorry for that, I had no choice, but I did send postcards, you didn't get them?"

"No... I didn’t get a single thing..."

"I'm here now, I'm here to stay for you and Jongdeok, we bought a small little cottage here together, come visit us one day,"

"We?"

"Kibum and I, we're, together, have been for three years now. You would like him."

“I’d love to meet him one day, wait…three years?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I didn’t understand why at the time, but I do now, I’m so sorry for cursing at you for leaving, I’m so sorry, I never knew why.”

“Guess you know now, mum did indeed kick me out for that reason. She caught me with Kibum in a… not so pleasant situation…well for her at least.”

“Yeah trust you to be caught like that, I’m not even surprised man.”

Jonghyun just laughed, grinning as wide as he possibly could, “Totally worth it though.” He winked at Jongdae, who just punched him in the arm and rolled his eyes.

 ----------------------------------- 

Going back to school after the weekend was always the worst feeling, to every student alike. For Minseok especially, facing Jongdae was going to be the most difficult part of his day.

‘Breathe Min, you can do this’

He quickly fixed himself in the mirror, practised his smile and then set off towards school. Luhan was already waiting for him, deep in conversation on his phone.

“Oh Minseok’s here, I’ll talk to you later, love you too.”

“Who was that huh?” Minseok teased. Luhan only blushed a bright red and pinched Minseok.

“Shhh you.”

 ----------------------------------- 

“Ok, shove off now, you’re late to form.”

“Alright Mr Prefect man, what are you going to do? Slap my wrist and give me detention?” laughed Luhan, who just stuck his tongue out at Minseok and skipped off.

Minseok shook his head and chuckled at the boy. Turning towards his form class, he looked up to see Jongdae staring at him. Startled to find he got caught, Jongdae quickly turned away and rushed off, causing the other to blush. ‘Shit Minseok get a hold of yourself geez’ he thought before entering his class.

Lunch came, and Minseok was definitely the most nervous he’s ever felt in his life.

“Dude you can do it okay, Jongdae is sat over there with his buddies, they don’t matter, just go up to him and claim your man.” Whispered Luhan, as he hid behind the bins with Minseok.

“I’m only going to apologise! Not…ask him out…not yet at least… Oh my god shut up Luhan!” He whisper-yelled, causing near-by students to look over to where they were.

“Ok I’m gonna do it. You stay there, you might start another fight with Baekhyun again, and it’s definitely not needed right now even if they are funny.” Minseok said, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

“Ok Ok I’ll stay here, hurry up though, Jongdae isn’t gonna be single for much longer, the boy’s a hottie and if you won’t get him I will.”

Minseok just sighed and rolled his eyes. Slowly he made his way to where Jongdae and his friends were, Chanyeol looking like he was being possessed at the way he was practically inhaling his food.

“Damn, that food isn’t going anywhere, chill a little.” Minseok said, Chanyeol only choked out a sorry and continued stuffing his face.

“What do you want?” asked Baekhyun rudely, giving him a dirty look.

Kyungsoo slapped the boy on the arm and told him not to be rude, as he apologised to Minseok.

“Sorry for that, but, why are you here?”

“Um...I wanted to talk to Jongdae…if that’s okay with him…” He stuttered, suddenly losing all the confidence he had.

“Whatever you want to say to him, you can say in fro…ow shit Kyungsoo stop slapping me!”

“Then shut up and let him talk to Dae.”

“Baek I can talk for myself you know, thanks though.” Said Jongdae, “Do you want to go somewhere more private?”

“Yeah um that would be great.”

“Follow me then, I know the perfect place.”

Jongdae led the other to a secluded grassy area, a great hide out spot he had thought at the time. He perched on top of a stone bench and motioned for Minseok to join him.

“So. What is it?”

Minseok looked down, not being able to look at the other and played with his fingers nervously.

“I just wanted… I just wanted to apologise, for my…behaviour toward you these recent months, it was dickish of me and I was hoping that maybe we can start again? Maybe? As friends?”

Jongdae gave the boy a tentative look, “I don’t know Minseok, and I accept your apology however,”

“But?”

“But I don’t know, you treated me like shit and I don’t think I can forgive that so easily, I hope you understand, it might take a while.”

“I…understand…I’m sorry though, I really am, guess I’m not as cool as I thought I was when I was doing all that stuff.”

“Hey you’re cool, don’t worry, even if you snore and drool in your sleep!” Jongdae laughed, trying to lighten the mood, it only made Minseok blush.

“Hey! I do not snore!”

“Yeah well I beg to differ, I was deafened by your snoring the other day, I still can’t hear in my left ear!” He stuck his finger in his ear and pretended to wiggle it around, Minseok only puffed his cheeks out and sulked.

“I definitely do not snore Kim Jongdae!” he said adamantly, which made Jongdae laugh even harder, a loud melodious laughter which made Minseok smile even if he was trying to sulk.

“Come on, the others are probably waiting for us, they’ve probably started thinking that you killed me and ditched the body somewhere,” Jongdae managed to say though all his laughter.

“Yeah, I left Luhan hiding behind a bin somewhere, I think I might leave him there actually.”

They made their way back into the canteen, Baekhyun immediately embracing Jongdae and weeping.

“I thought he did something to you!” He sobbed, Jongdae rolled his eyes and told Chanyeol to take his emotional boyfriend off him.

“See you around Jongdae,”

“Yeah.” He smiled at the other and Minseok smiled back, before turning away.

“So what did he want?” asked Kyungsoo.

“He just wanted to apologise, that’s all.”

“That’s good then.”

“Yeah, I don’t have to fear for my life anymore,” he joked before digging back into his food.

“Oh my god it’s gone cold!”

 ----------------------------------- 

“Oh my god! Do you not know any other games other than Go-Fish?!” Jongdae said exasperatedly after their ~~fourth~~ tenth game.

“No, so be quiet and keep playing, there’s money at stakes here.” Replied Leo.

“They’re all pennies!”

“More pennies than you’ll ever have.”

“…true…”

“Go-Fish.”

“HOW?!”

“I have talent. Now let’s get serious now.”

“So I hear you’ve got a huge project coming up, am I right?”

“Yep, we’re supposed to work in a group to create our own experiment or something, here I think I have the assignment brief somewhere,” Jongdae passed the other a crumpled piece of paper.

“Who are you working with?”

“Eunbi, Ken, and Amber. We’re supposed to be working with an A-Level student too. Amber’s already chosen for us though, sorry Leo.”

“Who could possibly be better than me?!” gasped Leo.

“According to her, Minseok is.”

“Oh great him, he’s so annoying in class, never shuts up,” Leo glanced at the paper Jongdae handed him. “I’ll still help you if you need it, you guys have the hard topic.”

“Joy.” The bell rang, signalling the end of the day, Jongdae got up from his seat and slung his bag over his shoulder, “I’ll see you later; take care.” He waved at the boy and ran towards the front gate. ‘Not too late I hope’ he thought, as he stood waiting.

“Jongdae!”

“Amber, Eunbi! Hey!”

The girls greeted him with a hug and linked arms with him as they set off towards the library.

“Where’s Ken?”

“He said he’d meet us there, he had a few things to take care of first.” Replied Eunbi.

“And Minseok?”

“Also said he’ll meet us there.” Said Amber, “he’s got prefect duties to attend to, he’s so lame sometimes.” She laughed.

“How do you know him then?”

“He’s my cousin, Minseok and Junmyeon, worst cousins ever, they’re always good two shoes.”

“Gee, sounds like hell man.”

“Oh it’s okay, I get to prank them all the time, it’s hilariously great.” She said, recalling her greatest pranks.

“There was this one time, Minseok was around 12 I think, and he was in the garden playing football. He was about to kick the ball, when auntie called him so he took his eye off the ball, I stole the ball and when he went to kick it again, he kicked the air, lost his balance and fell face first into the mud!” she laughed, wiping a tear. “He chased me when he found out but it was so worth it, imagine seeing a hamster with chubby cheeks covered in mud chasing after you!”

The trio could only laugh, and laughed even harder when they saw Minseok half an hour later, which confused the boy greatly.

“Min, it’s better if you don’t know.” Amber said, pulling out a chair for him at the table.

“Let’s work now, we’ve got a lot of work to do, and someone please call Ken.”

 ----------------------------------- 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yES HELLO EXO IS KOKOBOPPING ON MY GRAVE RIGHT NOW bYE  
> Also anyone heard of 2moons the series? I watched the entire drama in one day and I swear if Wayo and Phana don't actually kiss by the last episode, I'm rioting ok


	13. Tea and Tears

\----------------------------------- 

The library was quiet with the occasional sniffle, scratching of pen on paper and whispers for help as the group worked. A loud bang caused them to all jump in surprise, Jongdae practically leaping into Minseok’s lap, Minseok equally just as startled holding on to Jongdae for dear life. A sheepish Ken trailed in and quickly made his way to where the group was, avoiding the glares from the other students trying to work.

“Where were you, we’re almost done here!” hissed Jongdae, still in Minseok’s lap.

“Freaking Ravi wasn’t letting me go! He’s such a baby I swear!” Ken whispered back loudly, causing nearby students to shush him.

“Whatever, you can catch up next time, I’m going home now, this library is going to drive me mental in a second.” Said Jongdae, moving to pack up before realising he was still in Minseok’s lap. He froze when he made eye contact with the boy, blushing red. Amber laughed at the pair and poked Jongdae in the back, but there was no response from the boy.

After what felt like forever for Jongdae, he finally managed to open his mouth but only a strangled cry came out. Blushing deeply, he finally slid off the other’s lap, revealing an equally red Minseok who was desperately trying to hide.

“Now after the two of you have finished staring at each other, let’s go,” said Amber, laughing at the obvious tension hanging over the pair.

Jongdae quickly packed his stuff up, refusing to make eye contact with Minseok the whole time. The girls giggled at his behaviour, Ken looking amused whilst Minseok tried not to stare at the other.

“C-come on g-guys let’s g-g-go now.” Stuttered Jongdae nervously, as he walked straight past Minseok and towards the door. The group followed him straight after, the girls whispering and giggling every so often making Jongdae paranoid that they were talking about him. Exiting the library, Minseok finally spoke.

“Hey so um I’m gonna go that way,” he pointed at a random direction, “I’ll see you guys later bye,” and ran off before anyone could say anything.

“Yeah um I’ll see you guys later too, text me in the group chat if you need me bye” rambled Jongdae before also running off.  

After the pair had left, the rest of the group just looked at each and burst into pearls of laughter at how ridiculous the two were.

\----------------------------------- 

The sun was beginning to set and the air became cooler as it picked up, Minseok shivered and wrapped his arms around himself to get warmer as he walked through the empty park. Settling down on a swing, he began to slowly swing as he thought. He thought back to the incident that occurred earlier, and blushed slightly when he remembered how Jongdae clung onto him, how his fingers dug into his neck and how his warm body pressed against his, recalling how perfectly Jongdae had fit into his arms, how beautiful his face was up close. Shaking his head free of the thoughts, he picked up the pace of the swinging, not noticing another settling down next to him.

“You shouldn’t think so hard, you look constipated.” Said the boy next to him, startling Minseok who almost fell off the swing. He quickly turned to the source of the voice and saw a smiling Junmyeon.

“Shut up and respect your elders,” mumbled Minseok, not looking at his baby brother.

“What’s up? You look so down, it’s so rare seeing you like this.” Junmyeon asked.

“It’s nothing.” Minseok could only mumble.

“Are you sure? You can talk to me you know.”

“NO, I’m fine.” Snapped Minseok.

Junmyeon fell silent, both boys quietly swinging. Minseok often had his moods, so Junmyeon didn’t feel bad at the sudden snap, he only smiled softly at his brother, wondering what was troubling him so much. He got so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost missed the soft voice.

“You’re friends with Jongdae aren’t you?” Minseok asked, looking down.

“Yeah, he’s in a few of my classes, why do you ask?”

“What...what is he like?”

“In class or out? Either way, he’s loud, really loud, especially when he’s with Chanyeol and Baekhyun. He’s really sweet though, he’d go out of his way just to help you, and he’s super smart.”

Minseok smiled slightly.

“So, the class joker with a soft side?”

“Yeah I guess you can say that.” Chuckled Junmyeon. The boys fell silent again, the swings creaking under their weight.

“Do you like him?” Junmyeon asked quietly.

Minseok closed his eyes, and tried his best to ignore the fluttering in his heart when he thought about how wonderful it would feel to be able to call Jongdae his own.

“I think I do.” He said a few minutes later in a barely audible voice. “What should I do Jun? You know he’s my pen pal right?”

“Wait what? Jongdae is Chen? How did you find out, does he know you’re Xiumin?”

“It was at his birthday party, Chen invited me over… and turns out it was Jongdae…and no I don’t know what to say to him about it, I bet he hates me for picking on him all the time.”

“Jongdae doesn’t hate you know, he may curse you out sometimes but that’s entirely your fault, but he doesn’t hate you at all.”

“…Thanks Junmyeon.” Minseok smiled at the other brightly, thankful he had such an amazing brother.

Junmyeon smiled back at the other and motioned for the other to get up so they could go home. Minseok stood up, and took a deep breath and decided it was time. As the pair waited at the bus stop, he took his phone and quickly texted Jongdae, his heart racing and his hand shaking as he typed.    

**To: Chen 20:15 24/9/14**

_I need to tell you something. Can we meet at the Tea café tomorrow? 5pm?_

**From: Chen 20:21 24/9/14**

_Sure, I’ll see you then_

With that, Minseok pocketed his phone and began his journey home, his brother falling asleep on his shoulder minutes after boarding the bus.

\----------------------------------- 

Jongdae sat nervously in his chair, his leg continuously bouncing up and down causing the table to shake. When he had gotten Xiumin’s text last night, he was half scared half excited. He was excited to finally meet him, but scared that he wouldn’t be what the other expected him to be and leave upon meeting him.

He anxiously checked his phone, staring at the little numbers change, it was almost 5pm and Xiumin would be here very soon. Looking up, he scanned the little café, it was mostly empty, with a few people he recognised from school enjoying a calming cup of tea with their friends. He checked his phone again and internally panicked when the clock read 5.

He heard the chair opposite him scrape against the floor and Jongdae kept his head down, too scared to look up.

“Sorry, I hope I’m not late,” said the voice, and it made Jongdae whip his head up in less than a second.

In front of him, sat nervously in his chair, was none other than Kim Minseok.

Jongdae just stared.

Minseok wiggled in his seat, uncomfortable with Jongdae’s silent staring.     

“Are you…?” Jongdae managed to say with his head still trying to process things.

“Yes.”

“When did you know?”

“At your birthday party.”

“But… Xiu- you said that you couldn’t come.”

“I know I am really sorry about that, I just found out and I needed the time, to get my head around it, you can understand can’t you?” pleaded Minseok.

“I…”

“Jongdae I’m so sorry, please,”

“I fell in love with you.” Whispered Jongdae, tears threatening to fall fast.

“I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t feel the same way,” Minseok whispered back.

Jongdae looked down, Minseok looked away, neither daring to speak anymore.

“I have to go.” Whispered Jongdae before he rushed out of the café, almost knocking his cup over which Minseok caught in time. He sighed and set the cup down, and made his way back home, forlorn and miserable.

Jongdae ran, tears streaming down his face, not even stopping when he ran past Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

“Was that…?”

“Jongdae!” yelled Baekhyun, “Chan, I’m going after him, he looks really upset, I’ll see you later okay.”

“Sure.” Said Chanyeol, kissing the other on the forehead and let him run after the crying boy.

\----------------------------------- 

“Jongdae, wait! Please!” Baekhyun puffed, trying to catch up. Baekhyun chased the other until he stopped, and ran into the forest. Eventually Jongdae stopped, and Baekhyun wheezed, finally catching up to him. Jongdae curled up into a ball on the forest floor and burst into fresh tears. Baekhyun crawled over to him and hugged him, trying to soothe the other.

“Hey,” he said in a soft voice, “what’s wrong Dae?”

There was no reply, just more tears.

Baekhyun squeezed the boy closer to him, rocking him softly and stroking his hair, trying to ease the tears.

Soon the tears resided into sniffles.

“Ew.” Grimaced Jongdae when he pulled away from the other- he noticed he soaked Baekhyun’s shirt in tears and snot. Baekhyun just laughed, and handed him a tissue which he gladly accepted. “I’m sorry about your shirt Baek.” He mumbled.

Baekhyun just laughed more, “Don’t worry about it Dae, I’ll make Chanyeol buy me another, win win either way!”

Jongdae giggled quietly, still sniffling.

“Now, are you going to tell me why you were crying so much?”

“Min-“Jongdae managed to mumble before Baekhyun interrupted.

“Minseok?! Again?! What the fuck is his problem I swear, I’m going to kill that piece of sh-“

“Baekhyun! Shush! He- he didn’t do anything wrong…” He rest his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder and the other hugged him close.

“I’m just being silly I guess, I just wasn’t expecting him to tell me _that_ , I wasn’t expecting him to tell me that.” Jongdae sniffed, tears beginning to form again.

He looked up at Baekhyun, who smiled softly at him. “Have you ever loved someone so much, but you don’t who they are or what they look like, but none of that matters? You just- every time they talk to you, you feel so happy you can’t help your heart from beating so fast, everything they say makes you giggle and you know they’re always there for you no matter what, even staying up so late to make sure you’re okay?”

Baekhyun smiled and stroked Jongdae’s hair, “Every time I see Chanyeol, it’s exactly how I feel.”

“I was 13 when I got the first letter. At my old school we had this pen pal thing happening, a few days after we heard about it, I got a letter from someone called Xiumin.

At first I thought he’d be strange and a little dull to talk to, but when I read his first letter, he made me laugh so hard, I had tears, my classmates gave me weird looks but I didn’t care, I liked this kid- he made me laugh.

We continued to write to each other for ages, we told each other so many stories about each other, it made me happy. We eventually switched to email and text, once I was confident enough to ask for his number. There was no way we could meet though, he lived in Yorkshire, here, and I was in London. That was okay though, the letters, the emails and the texts were enough.

When I was 14, I realised that I might sorta have feelings for this guy. It was new and strange, I didn’t know what to do- what do you do when you think you have feelings for a guy?”

Jongdae paused to catch his breath, he shifted in Baekhyun’s lap trying to get more comfortable and continued,

“I told my best friend at the time, I confided in him, guess I was wrong to even call him my friend. The next day I found myself bleeding on the floor, being called names by the one person I cherished.          

Do you know who helped through that part of my life Baek? Xiumin did. He was there for me, he helped me, and it just made me fall even harder for him. I couldn’t help it.

Moving here was hard, I knew Xiumin lived here, I was scared to bump into him. It took every ounce of confidence in me to invite him to my birthday party, but he never turned up, I was devastated, but you know who showed up instead? Kim fucking Minseok. When…when he was sleeping in my bed, I don’t know what came over me, it was like all the feelings I had for Xiumin vanished and was replaced with him. Lucky for me now, they’re the same person. When he told me that, my heart dropped, I didn’t know what to do.”

Jongdae snorted scornfully, remembering the look on Minseok’s face when Jongdae realised who he was.

“Baekhyun what do I do now?”

“Do you still love him, even now you know who he is?”

“I don’t know, I think I do.”

“Then that should tell you what to do next, Dae. You deserve some happiness.”

Jongdae rubbed his eyes, and sighed. He climbed out of the other’s lap and stood up.

“Thanks Baek. For being there.”

“It’s what I’m here for.” Smiled Baekhyun, also standing up and motioning for him to lead the way home. “Come on, let’s go back now.”

Jongdae smiled back at him.

“Bet you can’t catch me.” He laughed before running off.

Baekhyun sighed, before he took off after Jongdae.

“I will this time!” 

\----------------------------------- 


	14. Forgiveness and Dreams

\----------------------------------- 

**To: Minseok 07:30 25/9/14**

_After school, café, 5pm_

**From: Minseok 07:32 25/9/14**

_Ok._

\----------------------------------- 

Jongdae was tired. He couldn’t sleep all night, the tears from last night drained him but no matter what he tried, he just couldn’t sleep. So when Kyungsoo waved hello at him, he could only muster up a weak wave and a grunt.

“Jongdae, you look like death, what happened.” Asked Kyungsoo.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Yawned Jongdae, plopping himself down next to Kyungsoo and resting his head on the boy’s shoulder, promptly falling asleep.

When the bus drove up to their stop, Kyungsoo lightly shook the other awake and whispered “dude, wake up, we’re here and will you please stop Minseok staring at me.”

The other woke up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and focused onto a staring Minseok who was only a few seats away from the pair. Minseok blushed red when he realised he got caught and hid, Luhan snickering away at the embarrassed boy.

“Huh?” was all Jongdae could say, not actually hearing what Kyungsoo said, nor did he actually notice Minseok staring.

“Idiot,” said Kyungsoo, rolling his eyes at the dazed boy, and pulling him off the bus.

Luhan just continued laughing at Minseok. “I can’t believe you got jealous over that!” he said as tears fell from laughing so hard.

“Shut up! I didn’t get jealous!” said Minseok defensibly, still blushing.

“Yes you did! You were totally jeal- OW MINSEOK!” Luhan rubbed the sore spot on his head from where the other hit him.

“Shut up when I tell you to shut up next time! Come on we’re gonna be late to class.” Minseok grabbed his backpack and stomped off.

“Stupid Luhan, and his stupid jealousy, he’s so stupid,” muttered Minseok to himself, not looking where he was going when he bumped into another figure.

“Ugh stupid wall,” he said, rubbing his nose, still looking down.

The figure turned around and clipped Minseok on the head.

“Ow!” Minseok yelled, looking up to see Kris looking down at him. “What was that for?!”

“You called me a stupid wall!”

The two continued to bicker on until the bell rang for the start of the day. By lunchtime, Minseok was still muttering to himself intensely over what had happened in the morning that he didn’t notice Jongdae sitting down next to him. The boy looked at the other, smiled and rest his head on his shoulder. Minseok froze when he felt a head rest on him, slowly he turned to his head to see a sleeping Jongdae. The other blushed and shifted to let the boy get comfortable and continued eating. It was only when the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, that Jongdae woke up from his slumber, smiled sleepily at Minseok, grabbed his bag and walked off to his class. Minseok could only smile like a sap back at the other.

\----------------------------------- 

When Minseok got home, he was panicking. Jongdae had texted him in the morning, wanting to meet after school and he had no idea what to wear. He was aware this wasn’t a date, especially not after what had happened yesterday, but he was more concerned over what Jongdae would say if he didn’t make an effort to look good. Eventually deciding on a pair of skinny black jeans, a white shirt with a white and black t-shirt on top, he slowly made his way to the café where Jongdae was waiting.

With ten minutes to spare, Minseok ordered a small cup of tea and sat in a small booth by the window.

Jongdae was nervous. He wanted everything to be okay with Minseok, he wanted Minseok, but he was nervous, scared he wouldn’t be enough for the other. He shook his head free of his thoughts, and quickly walked into the café, spotting Minseok in his favourite booth. He made his way over and sat opposite the other. Minseok looked up and slid a steaming hot cup of tea in front of the other. He had seen Jongdae make his way over and ordered for him before he got to the café.

“Thanks.” Said Jongdae, cradling the cup in his hands, and taking a sip. “My favourite too!”

“I remembered you mentioning it in one of your letters…”

“Ah, I’m glad you remembered then.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence, glancing at each other occasionally. Jongdae watched the other as he sipped his tea, how his cheeks pinked slightly because of the heat, and how his eyes closed as he tried to savour the hot drink. He watched at the other occasionally glanced out the window, watching people hurriedly walk by, as they made their way home from work and school. He watched the way his fingers would drum against the cup and how he would sometimes make eye contact with Jongdae and then quickly looking away smiling softly. It felt like ages when Jongdae finally spoke, breaking their silence.

“I forgive you.”

Minseok looked startled. “What?”

“I forgive you, I forgive you for keeping this from me, and for picking on me when I first came here. I want us to start over.”

“T-thank you, I really am sorry about everything Jongdae.”

Jongdae took the other’s hand in his own and smiled radiantly. “It’s okay Minseok.”

Minseok smiled back and gave Jongdae’s hand a squeeze.

“Hi my name is Jongdae, and I moved here a little while ago. I also go by the name Chen, but you can call me Jongdae.”

Minseok chuckled. “Hi there, I’m Minseok and I’ve lived here all my life, I sometimes go by the name Xiumin but that’s only for close friends. You can call me by either, I don’t mind.”

The pair laughed and spent the entire afternoon talking, Minseok at one point asked Jongdae on a date which Jongdae happily accepted.

\----------------------------------- 

“So DaeDae, what you gonna do on this little date of yours?” giggled Baekhyun, which caused Kyungsoo to punch the boy in the arm, Baekhyun whimpered and hid in Chanyeol’s chest. The three of them were currently piled on Jongdae’s bed, offering- ‘yeah as useful as my arse hair’ thought Jongdae- advice for his first date.

“Movies probably, I dunno, he didn’t tell me anything, just the time.” Said Jongdae, rubbing the back of his neck as he stood in the middle of the room. Baekhyun suddenly clapped his hands and sat up, eyes shining.

“Ok, I know what we should do to you. Minseok won’t be able to resist you!”

Jongdae could only whine loudly as Baekhyun dragged him off, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol chuckling at the sight.

In the bathroom, Baekhyun sat the other down on the edge of the bath tub and told him to stay as still as possible.

“Close your eyes please.”

“Why?”

“Shush, close, now.”

Grudgingly, Jongdae closed his eyes, and could hear Baekhyun rummaging through a small bag. Soon, he felt the other take his glasses off and apply a weird sort of pressure on his eyes, and Jongdae groaned. Baekhyun finally let him open his eyes, it felt like hours for Jongdae. He tried to get up but Baekhyun only sat him down again.

“Wait until I’m finished please!”

Jongdae groaned again, a little louder than before.

Baekhyun got to styling the boy’s hair, struggling to tame it before spraying it into an updo which showed off Jongdae’s forehead.

“Baaaekkkk,” he whined, “why, I don’t like my forehead it’s too big!”

“It’s cute now quiet. Go put your contact lenses in.”

“BAEKHYUN NO PLEASE!” Jongdae pleaded, “ANYTHING BUT THAT!” He pouted when Baekhyun refused further.

“Jongdae, no amount of puppy eyes and pouting is going to work with me, Chanyeol is my boyfriend remember.”

“Okay fine.” He said, as he stomped over to the cabinet. “Happy now?”

“Yes, you look hot, now come on.”

Back in his room, Kyungsoo was searching through Jongdae’s clothes, trying- and failing- to find something decent enough for him to wear.

“Jongdae, do you not own any colour at all?”

“Says the one whose entire wardrobe is black too…”

“Touché.”    

Kyungsoo pulled out a dark blue button up shirt and tossed it at the other, which caused Baekhyun to shriek, “You almost ruined his hair Soo!”

Kyungsoo only rolled his eyes at him and continued digging through the closet. Eventually he found a pair of ripped skinny jeans and tossed it at Jongdae, who only complained that those particular jeans were too tight. It took one glare from Kyungsoo to send Jongdae running to the bathroom to dress, Kyungsoo just smirked. When Jongdae shuffled back in the room, the trio whistled at the boy who blushed bright red at their reaction. Jongdeok, who had been asleep the whole time- honestly Jongdae didn’t understand how his brother could sleep through anything- woke at the loud hollering and pelted them with pillows until they died down.

“Oops sorry!” they apologised, and Jongdeok just grunted in annoyance and fell back asleep.

“Dang, you look hot though, if I wasn’t taken…” Baekhyun winked at Jongdae, who yelled at Chanyeol to control his piece of shit boyfriend.

A loud tone came from Jongdae’s phone and both Jongdae and Baekhyun dove for the phone. As much as Jongdae tried, Baekhyun was victorious and opened the message he received. He giggled as he read the message, and handed it back to Jongdae who blushed when he read it, it was from Minseok.

**To: Jongdae 4/10/14 18:30**

_Can’t wait to see you soon! (_ */ω＼*)

**From: Jongdae 4/10/14 18:32**

_I can’t wait to see you too_ (ノv`*)

He fumbled to put his phone in his pocket and almost tripped over his own feet trying to walk over to his shoes, the trio laughed at the poor boy. Jongdae ignored them and focused on typing up his shoes.

“I’m going now, get your arses out of my house.”

He made his way down the stairs as quietly as possible to avoid his parents, who would certainly have a thousand questions over the way he currently looked. As he reached the front door, he yelled to his parents. “Mum, Dad! I’m going out with my friends, I’ll be back late!”

“Alright honey, have fun!”

The door shut with a soft click,

“Enjoy your date Dae.” Whispered Baekhyun in Jongdae’s ear when the boy hugged him. Jongdae bid the boys goodbye before he set off for the fountain where Minseok said to wait.

\----------------------------------- 

He made it to the fountain early, the cold was starting to nip at him and he wished he’d bought a jacket with him. The sun had already set when Jongdae left the house, and the stars shone brightly in the dark sky. He admired the shining lights in the town square and the calming sound of the rushing water. He sat down on the edge of the fountain and closed his eyes as he took in the busy sounds around him.

“Falling asleep already Jongdae?”

Jongdae chuckled, not opening his eyes, and reached out for Minseok’s hand. Minseok gladly took the other’s hand and pulled him in close for a hug.

Jongdae opened his eyes, smiled and returned the hug.

“Being with you is like a dream, Minseok.” 

\----------------------------------- 


	15. Dates, Ferris wheels, and Shocks

\----------------------------------- 

Minseok giggled, “You’re so cheesy Jongdae!”

“I can’t help it when I’m around you,” Jongdae winked at Minseok, and laughed loudly. The pair broke the embrace and began strolling through the town.

“So where are you taking me?” asked Jongdae, tilting his head as he looked at the other. Minseok smiled at him and tapped his nose.

“It’s a surprise, but you’ll love it.”

Jongdae just smiled and followed after the boy, walking as close as he could to the other- leeching of his body heat. Minseok chuckled and slipped his arm around the other’s waist and held him closer. They walked at a slow pace, enjoying each other’s company, making small talk as Minseok lead them towards the twinkling lights in the distance.

“The funfair!” Jongdae gasped, when the ferris wheel came into view. He turned to Minseok who smiled back at him.

“You remembered,” he said, “I haven’t been to a funfair in ages!” He excitedly began pulling Minseok towards the stalls, bouncing in happiness. Minseok watched the other, enjoying how beautiful Jongdae’s smile was when it reached his eyes. The look of pure childish happiness on Jongdae’s face brightened Minseok’s world and he promised himself he would always be the cause of it.

“Min, win me that giant cat plushie please?” Jongdae pouted at Minseok, pleading and whining, “Look it looks like me, please please please?”

“Okay, come on you big baby,” Minseok gave in, and Jongdae bounced off causing the other to run to keep up.

They soon stopped in front of a duck shooting stall and Jongdae shoved the gun in the others hand. Minseok straightened up, and winked at Jongdae- flexing his arm as Jongdae blushed slightly.

Minseok soon realised it wasn’t a good idea to show off in front of the other, as he missed every target and put the gun down embarrassed. Jongdae giggled at the other, linking his arm with him as they walked away from the stall.

“It’s okay Min, you tried,” he teased as he walked, leaning his head on Minseok’s shoulder.

“I’ll get that cat for you don’t worry, I’m a man of my word.”

Jongdae snorted, “Sure you are,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Minseok gasped, looking shocked whilst Jongdae laughed loudly, running off.

Minseok stood where was, shaking his head at Jongdae’s silly antics with a fond smile.

“Minseok hurry up! The ferris wheel is getting full!” he heard Jongdae shout, and he ran as fast as he could.

When he caught up to the other, he was greeted with a pouting face.

“Min, they said the ferris wheel isn’t open yet.” He whined.

“Let’s kill more time then, wanna get candy floss?”

He chuckled at how Jongdae’s face brightened at the mention of candy floss. He linked their hands together as they got their sweet treat. They sat on a nearby bench, Jongdae instantly devouring the coloured sugary strands. Noticing Minseok watching him again for the third time this date, he looked up to see Minseok who only reached over to wipe a strand of candy floss from his chin.

“Are you enjoying yourself today Dae?”

Jongdae blushed and nodded. “Yes I am, thank you for bringing me here.”

“It’s feels like yesterday I remember how much fun I used to have at funfairs.” He said, remembering the fond memories he had.

“Mum used to love taking all three of us, we’d go every year, until she kicked Jonghyun out. We haven’t been to one since.”

“She caught Jonghyun with a boy at the funfair, kissing and it made her furious. Finding him in bed with the boy a few weeks later was what made her snap.” He said frowning, it was only when Jonghyun had told him the full story did he realise the actual reason behind his mother’s actions.    

“Funfairs remind me of when we used to be so happy with each other. So, yes I’m glad you bought me here. We can make new memories together.”

“Happy memories,” agreed Minseok, bringing the boy in closer for a hug.

Jongdae hugged him back, enjoying the warmth the other had. A slight cough made Jongdae look up at Minseok, who was beginning to lean in closer. Jongdae’s heart began beating rapidly, hoping Minseok couldn’t hear it. Their faces were so close now, all Jongdae had to do was lean up and close the distance, his eyes fluttered shut.

Minseok’ lips never reached Jongdae’s as the other had leaned right over and stolen a huge bite out of Jongdae’s candy floss to which Jongdae could only punch the other over and over, whining about the loss of his precious sugar. Minseok just grinned, it was worth it, worth seeing Jongdae’s soft features fall into serenity, he looked like an angel and there was nothing more he wanted to see again.

“The ferris wheel is open, are you coming?” asked Minseok, avoiding one last punch from Jongdae, and held his hand out for the other to take. Jongdae got to his feet and clasped his hand in Minseok’s, as they strolled to the now open ferris wheel.

“2 tickets please!” said Jongdae, his eyes shining brightly in the colourful lights that adorned the ride.

They boarded the cabin, a bright pink on because it was Jongdae’s favourite colour, and settled in with the pair sat opposite each other. Jongdae twisted around in his seat, trying to enjoy all angles of the view, Minseok enjoying the view of Jongdae as he did. Soft mutters of amazement were often heard from the boy, as he watched the whole of the countryside light up as night was falling.

“Jongdae,” Minseok softly called out to the other. Jongdae turned, not realising how close Minseok had towards the other. He blushed at the close proximity, he could feel Minseok’s hot breath and his heart pounded.

Minseok leaned closer and closed the distance between them, pressing his lips against the other’s own. Jongdae kissed back, pressing in harder and hands tangling in Minseok’s hair as he bought them closer.

Minseok was the first to break the kiss, leaning his forehead against Jongdae’s, who was breathing heavily.

“I’ve been waiting forever to do that,” whispered Minseok, smiling widely at Jongdae.

“You should have done it sooner,” said Jongdae before pulling the other into another kiss. He felt Minseok chuckle against him.

As the ride came to an end, the pair had to separate, not that Jongdae really wanted to. They hopped off the ride together, hand in hand, and cheeks pink and flushed. It was getting late, and Jongdae had to go home so Minseok offered to walk the other home. They walked slowly, still hand in hand, a comfortable silence fell between them. When they had reached Jongdae’s house, they stopped in front. Jongdae reached over and pecked Minseok on the cheek, whispering a thank you before skipping in to his house. Minseok laughed at the other and headed on home himself, whilst looking through the photos he took of them on their date.

As Jongdae closed his front door, he stood there a while, remembering the day he had with a goofy grin on his face, before a call from the living room snapped him out of his daydreams.

“Jongdae is that you?”

“Yeah!” he called back, and slipped his shoes off before walking into the living room.

He froze when he saw his parent, Jongdeok and Jonghyun in the same room. Only Jonghyun wasn’t alone. He was holding hands with Kibum, his boyfriend, and chills ran down Jongdae’s spine as he thought about his parent’s reaction.

Jonghyun spoke up.

“We’re getting married.”

For the first time that day, Jongdae was speechless.           

\----------------------------------- 


	16. A New Start

\----------------------------------- 

“You’re what?” said Jongdae in disbelief. He sneaked a glance at his parents who sat in silent stony faced, refusing to meet Jonghyun’s eye.

“I’m getting married, and I want you to be my best man.” Said Jonghyun, smiling sadly at his younger brother.

“But,”

“But what Jongdae?”

“How…”

“Kibum proposed and I said yes of course,” joked Jonghyun, avoiding Jongdae’s real question. Jongdeok stood silently behind Jongdae, offering Jonghyun a small smile to show his support.

“Jonghyun, hyung, congratulations.” Said Jongdae, pulling his brother into a hug, unshed tears threatening to fall as Jonghyun quietly cried into Jongdae’s shoulder.

Jongdae was over the moon for Jonghyun, he was happy his older brother was happy, but seeing his parents act cold towards him made him feel angered, disgusted that a mother and father would treat their child like that.

“Of course I’ll be your best man hyung. Of course, I’d do anything for you.” Said Jongdae, holding Jonghyun tighter.

“Hey! Don’t leave me out!” laughed Jongdeok, joining the hug, as his two older brothers grabbed him closer.

“Jonghyun.” A voice rang out, silencing the three.

“Yes mother?”

“Don’t call me that, you lost that right years ago, and look at you, poisoning my boys.”

“I-“

“Do as you please, but don’t drag my sons into this filth.”

“Mum stop.” Jongdae said angrily, “Stop it. What’s your problem, why can’t he love who he wants?”

“How is this affecting you in any way? It’s his life, why are you damn adamant to rule over it. Let him love who he wants, support him through everything, be a mother.”

“Why did you give birth to him if all you’re going to do is kick him out of your life?”

“Jong-“Jonghyun held Jongdae’s shaking figure, and wiped the falling tears gently.

“No. She needs to hear this. She isn’t always right just because she’s our mother.”

“Mum. Dad. I have a boyfriend. His name is Minseok and turns out I’ve known him a hell of a long time, and guess what. I love him.” He said confidently as he glared at his mother, not breaking eye contact.

“Get out.” Said his mother, in a cold voice. “Get out of my house both of you now.”

“Gladly!” spat Jongdae as he turned towards his room. “Nothing will ever make me come back here.”

Jongdeok watched his brother stomp back to his room, and he turned to face his mother.

“Well then. It looks like you won’t ever see me again either.” He shrugged at his livid mother and walked back to his room, to help Jongdae.

Jonghyun’s eyes filled tears, Kibum rubbed his back to soothe the man. Upon hearing Jonghyun sob, his mother whipped her head towards the men and spat at them as she stomped off. His father, who was quiet through the ordeal, offered Jonghyun a wet cloth and slowly wiped the spit of him.

“You know, you were always my favourite son, no matter what. I love you Jonghyun, you, Jongdae and Jongdeok. Make sure you send me an invite okay?” he said offering a small smile at Jonghyun. Jonghyun sobbed harder, holding on to his father who looked as if he was about to cry too.

Jonghyun and Jongdeok came back, arms laden with heavy bags.

“Where will you go?” asked their father.

“We have a house here, they can stay with us.” Said Kibum quietly.

Jongdae’s father smiled. “My boys will be happy with you, I know it. Look after them well.” He held a hand out for Kibum to shake. Kibum took his hand and nodded.

He held his hand out for Jonghyun who took it wordlessly, wiping his tears away with the other. Jonghyun took a deep breath and held his head up high. Kibum held his other hand out for Jongdae, squeezing the others hand in comfort. Jongdae offered his hand to Jongdeok who rolled his eyes at the cheese but took it nonetheless.

“Thank you dad,” was all the boys could say before they left. Their father watched them disappear into the distance, wondering if there’d be a second chance to have his family back together again.

\----------------------------------- 

The boys walked silently next to each other, the night alive with the sound of crickets.

“Hyung?” Jongdae said quietly.

Jonghyun looked at him smiling.

“Can I go to Minseok’s house, just for tonight?”

“Sure bud, I’ll see you tomorrow okay?” said Jonghyun, giving the other a hug.

Jongdae hugged back, “Thank you.” He whispered as he slipped his phone out of his pocket.

“Come on Deokkie, just me and you now, race ya!” laughed Jonghyun.

“Hey! Cheat! I don’t even know where you live!” yelled Jongdeok, running after the other.

Kibum chuckled. He hugged Jongdae goodbye, and ran after the pair.

\----------------------------------- 

Jongdae clicked on Minseok’s number, waiting a few seconds before the other picked up.

“Hello? Jongdae?” said a sleepy voice and Jongdae felt bad for waking the other up.

“Jongdae? Are you still there?” the sleepy voice said, now more alert when Jongdae didn’t reply.

“Min-,” said Jongdae before he broke into tears again. Minseok soothed the other as much as he could over the phone, before Jongdae managed to croak a few words out.

“Can I come in?”

Minseok ran to his front door, to see a teary Jongdae.

“Oh baby come here,” said Minseok, pulling the other into a hug. He ran his fingers through Jongdae’s hair, and rubbed his back to calm the other down.

“Come inside love,” said Minseok, leading the other inside and pushing the door closed with his foot. He led the other upstairs to his room, Jongdae still clutching onto Minseok. Junmyeon popped his head out of his bedroom door and mouthed to Minseok ‘Is he alright?’

Minseok mouthed back that he was and Junmyeon nodded, going back into his room. Once the pair was inside Minseok’s room, he let Jongdae sit on his bed who instead laid down and curled up into a small ball. Minseok sat down on the other side and stroked Jongdae’s hair gently.

“What’s up, what happened love?” he asked quietly.

Jongdae sniffed and pulled Minseok down so the pair were lying beside each other on the bed.

“Jonghyun hyung’s getting married and I got kicked out of the house.” Said Jongdae after a while.

Minseok sighed and held Jongdae closer.

“Shush, it’s okay now, I’m here for you.” He said, planting a small kiss on the other’s forehead. Soon, Jongdae’s soft sniffles died down to sighs until he eventually fell asleep. Minseok smiled at the boy in his arms until he began to feel sleepy.

“Goodnight Dae, I love you.” Whispered Minseok, before closing his eyes.

“I love you too.” Mumbled Jongdae and Minseok cuddled closer, both of them allowing sleep to take them.

\----------------------------------- 

Morning came, and Jongdae woke up sprawled over a still sleeping Minseok. Not wanting to wake the other, he slowly shuffled out of the other’s embrace but was quickly pulled back by strong arms.

“Where do you think you’re going?” said a rough voice, still laden with sleep.

Jongdae gulped and hoped Minseok couldn’t feel the warmth spreading over his reddening cheeks. He wasn’t going to lie that Minseok’s morning voice wasn’t attractive to him.

Minseok chuckled at the silence, knowing that a hundred and one things must be going on in Jongdae’s head at that moment. Minseok leaned over and kissed Jongdae’s red cheeks before getting up. Jongdae hid his face in his hand whilst Minseok giggled at his cute boyfriend’s reaction and pulled him up out of the bed. Jongdae whined, not wanting to leave the bed.

“Come on lazy, don’t you want breakfast?”

“Minseooook pleaaase,” he whined

“You better get up before I tickle you,” Minseok jokingly threated the other who immediately shot up and out.

“Yes sir, I’m up.” He saluted Minseok before dissolving into laughter.

“But on the topic of breakfast, I can’t,” he said once he caught his breath. “Jonghyun hyung and Jongdeok are probably wondering when I’ll be back, and I think I’d like to spend our first morning out of that house together.”

“No worries Jongdae, I understand, come on I’ll drop you back yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you Minseok. Thank you for being there for me always.”

Minseok took Jongdae’s hand and squeezed.

“I’ll always be here for you no matter what.”

Junmyeon gagged behind the pair and Minseok whipped around to glare at the other and threw his shoe at his brother who ran before it could hit him.

Jongdae giggled, making Minseok laugh.

Minseok held his hand out for the other, “Come on let’s go.”

Jongdae took his hand, interlocking their fingers together.

Soon they were outside Jonghyun’s house, they had walked slowly to enjoy each other’s company as well as the cool weather.

Just as Minseok leaned into kiss Jongdae goodbye, the front door was thrown wide open by a grinning Jonghyun.

Jongdae groaned and Minseok blushed from being caught by Jongdae’s older brother. An equally excited Kibum came to the door and Jongdae groaned louder, missing the look his brother and brother in law gave each other.

Jongdae and Minseok were quickly pulled into the house, with Kibum yelling that Minseok had to stay for breakfast, and Minseok shyly agreed.

Jongdeok just watched the two couples from the kitchen table as they came in,

“Gross.”

And he walked away, smiling into his cereal.  

\----------------------------------- 


	17. The Wedding Part 1.

\----------------------------------- 

“Min! Have you seen my tie?!” yelled a frantic Jongdae who was currently destroying his entire wardrobe for said item.

Minseok chuckled when he walked into the room to see Jongdae sulking under a pile of clothes.

“Come on you sulky baby, I have your tie here,” Minseok said, holding up the dark blue tie.

Jongdae pouted more as he got up from the pile and made his way over to Minseok. He wrapped his arms around the elder which made Minseok laugh louder and hold Jongdae closer to him. Jongdae rested his head on Minseok’s shoulder, and Minseok responded by running his fingers through Jongdae’s soft hair gently.

“What would I do without you?” mumbled Jongdae into Minseok’s shoulder.

“What would I do without you as well, my love.”

Jongdae held on tighter to the older boy, occasionally lifting his head up to receive small kisses from Minseok.

Minseok had come over to stay for the weekend, leading up to Jonghyun’s wedding. Jongdae was shy, blushing bright red when he mentioned staying over to Minseok, who only looked at him fondly and agreed. They had spent the weekend preparing for the wedding, doing last minute check-ups whilst Jonghyun moped in the corner, whining about the lack of Kibum in the house.  

“But as much as I am loving this right now, we do have a wedding to get ready for, you are the best man after all.”

Jongdae reluctantly pulled away from Minseok as Minseok began fixing Jongdae’s appearance. Quickly but neatly, he sorted Jongdae’s askew collar, smoothed out he wrinkles caused by the clothes pile, and tied his tie. As he finished tying the tie, Minseok pulled on it, bringing Jongdae closer to kiss him soundly. A few kisses later, Minseok pulled away, leaving Jongdae flushed and red faced.

“You’re so handsome Dae.” Whispered Minseok into Jongdae’s ear. “Let’s go down now, yeah?”

Jongdae nodded dumbly and followed Minseok downstairs.

\----------------------------------- 

“JONGDAE!” yelled a panicking Jonghyun as he rushed into the living room. “Dae baby, where’s my tie? I can’t find it, Kibum is going to kill me, I haven’t even brushed my hair yet,” rambled Jonghyun, whilst Minseok looked on in the situation in amusement. ‘These brothers are exactly the same’ he thought.

“Hyung! Calm down!” said an equally panicked Jongdae.

Minseok looked over at Jongdeok, who was also watching the pair panic.

“Are you going to help them?” asked Minseok, and Jongdeok shrugged before walking in and placing his hands on his older brothers’ heads.

“Hyungs. Calm.” He said softly. The older boys looked up at a smiling Jongdeok.

“Jonghyun hung, your tie is where you left it in the bathroom. Jongdae hyung, stop whining oh my god, my ears can’t take it anymore.”

Jonghyun nodded meekly and ran off whilst Jongdae just stayed silent, eyes shining with tears.

“Jongdae?” said Jongdeok softly, kneeling down beside the other. “What’s wrong?”

“Our brother is getting married,” Jongdae said after a while. “Can you believe it?”

Jongdeok smiled, “Of course, it’s a new chapter in his life, I’m happy for him, we’re all happy for him aren’t we hyung?”

Jongdae nodded, “I’m just so happy, that he’s happy you know? I’m so glad we found each other again, that’s how it was always supposed to be.”

“My brother is such a sap, stop it or you’ll make me cry as well.” Jongdeok went to wipe a tear away from Jongdae’s face, who was startled when he realised he was crying.

A small sniff was heard behind Minseok, who jumped in surprise, only to find Jonghyun watching his two younger brothers. Minseok smiled and offered a hug to the older man.

“He’s lucky to have you Minseok, keep him happy okay?”

“I will hyung, I will.” Minseok said, watching Jongdae with adoration.

“Hyung’s at Jinki hyung’s house right?” Minseok asked Jonghyun, who nodded in agreement. Kibum was currently staying over at Jonghyun’s closest friend’s house, whilst the brothers had the house to themselves to get ready for the day. It was lonely without Kibum, Jonghyun felt. Jonghyun knew that soon they would see each other again, but it felt like they were too far apart for far too long.

“Uh hyung…”

“Yeah?”

“Your face is doing the creepy thing again.”

“Heh…”

\----------------------------------- 

As Minseok finished getting ready, he sat Jongdae down in the bathroom and started work on him. He styled Jongdae’s newly dyed honey blond hair up and let him wear his contacts. Jongdae sat quietly, letting Minseok do whatever he was doing, and enjoyed the feeling of Minseok’s fingers running through his hair with product.

“Just one more thing…” mumbled Minseok as he grabbed the eyeliner from his bag. Applying a subtle layer on him, Minseok stepped back and let Jongdae look in the mirror.

Stood there was someone Jongdae didn’t think existed, like, ever.

“My baby’s always handsome, don’t you think?” said Minseok with a slight smirk, back hugging the other. As expected, Jongdae could only blush.  

The doorbell rang and Minseok broke away to answer the door letting Jongdae slip away to the living room. Minseok opened the door to reveal a handsome Junmyeon in blue waiting.

“Hey Junnie, come in, we’ve been waiting for you.”

“Ah yeah, mum delayed me a bit, she didn’t like that we were going to a gay wedding so I had to run when she finally finished her dumb rant,” said Junmyeon, rolling his eyes at his mother’s silly words.

“Anyways, are we all set? I’ve got the driver waiting for us.”

“Yep, lemme go see if the boys are ready, you would not believe the morning Jonghyun hyung’s had, he’s been all over the place, Jongdae was no better!” said Minseok with a chuckle.

“Jonghyun hyung! Are you all ready now?”

A muffled ‘yes’ was heard and Minseok popped his head round the corner to see Jonghyun engulfed in a hug with his two younger brothers.

“I love you guys too, but I…need…air…” gasped Jonghyun, and the boys only laughed and held him tighter.

Minseok and Junmyeon laughed louder, before joining them, causing all the boys to laugh even louder.

Junmyeon broke away from the boys, and held up a camera. “Come on, picture time!”

Soon the boys gathered in a line, Jonghyun in the middle, and beamed brightly for the camera.

Jonghyun was wearing a pristine white suit, with a bright red flower pinned to his jacket, Jongdae was in navy blue as with their youngest brother. Minseok was wearing a smart black suit, and had his hand clasped tightly in Jongdae’s as they posed for the photo.

A few more photos, and they were ready to set off. Jongdae was sorting out last minute plans in the car.

“Okay so, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are going to be at the venue when we get there, the others will be there for the reception party and Kibum hyung should already be there by now.”

Jongdae fell silent, and Jonghyun prodded him gently. “What is it?”

“Um…” Started Jongdae.

“…Dad said he can’t make it…” said Jongdae softly.

Jonghyun took Jongdae’s hand in his own and squeezed it.

“It’s okay, as long as I have my boys there, I’ll be fine.” Said Jonghyun with a smile. Jongdae smiled back.

“We’ll be fine.”         

\----------------------------------- 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi,   
> I do apologise deeply for not updating   
> I wrote this chapter and the next chapter, before Jonghyun's passing, and it was really hard for me to actually publish this as Jonghyun has been a huge role model in my life.   
> I can only hope this story captures the beautiful soul Jonghyun was and still is.


	18. The Wedding Part 2.

\----------------------------------- 

“Jonghyun.

Before I met you, I was scared. I was scared of the world and I was lost.

I was so lost and then I looked up one day, and there you were, grinning down at me, offering me your hand and you pulled up from the pit I was drowning in. I still remember that day you sat next to me during lunch, and even though you could hear all the whispers, you still spoke to me, about your brothers, about your plans for the weekend, about whatever you could think of.

We’ve been through so many ups and downs, but you’ve never left my side, and I’m so thankful to have you in my life. You’ve brought out the best in me.  

I promise to never let you go, to always love you as much as I love you now, please be mine forever and always.”

Jonghyun looked at Kibum with teary eyes and smiled.

“Kibum.

You are the angel in my life. My loud and lively angel. When I saw you for the first time, I wanted you so badly. I wanted to wrap you up and hide you from the world. The world has treated you harshly but you survived it and I am so proud of you and I am so proud to call you mine.

I’m so incredibly lucky to have you in my life, you make so happy, and there is never a dull moment in our lives. You’re so kind hearted, you treat me, my brothers, our friends with so much love and care, and I can’t believe someone like you exists.

Kibum, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Jonghyun said, tears spilling from his eyes. Kibum laughed shakily, tears also spilling.

“I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss each other.”

Jongdae looked at his brother and brother in law, before bursting into tears. Minseok, who was sat beside him, pulled him into his embrace and let the younger boy cry, as he ran his fingers through his hair to calm him down.

\----------------------------------- 

The wedding was beginning to come to an end, with the party just about to begin.

“Everyone! Can I have your attention please?” hollered Jongdae over the loud music.

The music died down, and Jongdae cleared his throat, speaking into the mic and turned towards Kibum and Jonghyun who were sat at the centre table. 

“Time for the best man’s speech, actually both Jongdeok and I were supposed to deliver this speech but he’s too shy so I guess you’re stuck with me.” Jongdeok popped his head up from the buffet table and waved, causing the audience to laugh.

“Jonghyun hyung. What can I say about him? If I were to describe in one word, I would say, dependable.”

“He has always been the big brother, any boy would wish he had,

A big brother who never once got angry at us, a big brother who wiped our tears away. A big brother who made us and everyone around him happy.

He is an inspiration to us all. Life hasn’t been easy for him, it has thrown the worst thing any one person can go through, yet he rose from the ashes and held his head high and went against the bad in the world. He taught us how to stand up for ourselves and he taught us how to forgive and forget. He taught us that life goes on, but we live on forever. Our memories and our impact.

Jonghyun hyung, I’m so proud to call you my brother.

Kibum hyung, thank you for always being by his side, thank you for loving him and I’m proud to call you my brother too.

To the happy couple!” Jongdae raised his glass in the air, and the audience followed, toasting Jonghyun and Kibum with happiness.

“Now let’s get this party started!” yelled Jongdae, cueing the DJ to turn the music back up again.

The guests cheered loudly, and Kibum pulled Jonghyun to his feet, heading to the dance floor first.

The music blared, drinks were passed around, and everyone was in high spirits.

\----------------------------------- 

Jongdae danced. Danced with Jonghyun, with Kibum, with his best friends. This was the happiest he felt since he confessed his feelings for Minseok and he couldn’t have felt any happier than he currently was. The memory of this moment was one he would keep forever, he was with his loved ones, and he was far from the Jongdae he used to be; shy, closed off and unhappy.

“Jongdae!” Baekhyun screamed from across the dance floor.

“Jongdae, come over here!”

Laughing, Jongdae jogged over to where a tipsy Baekhyun was clutching onto an equally tipsy Chanyeol.

As soon as Baekhyun spotted Jongdae, he immediately latched onto the other, all the while still clinging onto Chanyeol.

“Jongdaeeee, when are you gonna ask Minseok to marry you?! I wanna go to another Kim wedding!” Baekhyun giggled.

“Yah! What are you saying!?” Jongdae yelped, causing Baekhyun to giggle more.

“I could say the same for you Baek, when are you gonna marry Chanyeol hmm?” Jongdae poked Baekhyun’s reddening cheeks who tried to hide his face into Chanyeol’s chest (Chanyeol was also red at Jongdae’s comment).

“Chanyeol-ah I love you!” Baekhyun let go of Jongdae and fell into Chanyeol. Jongdae decided the pair were being too gross and walked towards the food table, chuckling at his best friends’ antics.

\----------------------------------- 

A while later, the music had quietened down, allowing the couples in attendance to slow dance with their significant others. Minseok searched for Jongdae, in hopes to join the other couples on the dance floor.

Spotting Jongdae by the food table with Jongdeok, he smiled and walked up to him, tapping the other on the shoulder to get his attention. Jongdae spun around at the contact, beaming when he saw Minseok.    

“Dance with me?”

Jongdae beamed, “Of course,” he said, taking Minseok’s outstretched hand into his own and followed him to the dance floor.

The pair gently swayed to the soft playing music, Minseok’s hands resting on Jongdae’s waist as Jongdae wrapped his arms around Minseok’s neck.

“I could stay like this forever.” Whispered Minseok into Jongdae’s ears, causing the poor boy to blush at his words. Jongdae replied by resting his forehead on the other’s shoulder, holding onto Minseok tighter.     

“Jongdae.”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Always and forever.”

\----------------------------------- 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically this chapter is the end (it's crap I know) BUT there will be an epilogue and a bonus chapter too so don't get your hopes up too much lol


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